Unannounced
by Nga Aroha
Summary: Sequel to Undiscovered. After moving out, An old face shows up, and only Jared can take Raven away from all the drama. After all,Thats what he does best. Unfortunatly, Australia was the wrong place to go.
1. Chapter 1

Are you quite excited? Because I definatly am.

Thanks for all the _undiscovered _reveiws. They were great. Special thanks to Shadow, because your was so long and helpful. Man it took me a long time to find the title for this. But I like it. I've got an un-thing going on. I didn't want to call it undiscovered 2, because that would be so very uncreative. And this title makes sense. Last story, raven and Jared as a couple were undiscovered, and in this story things are...not... announced. Uh, you'll read this in like a year when I'm finished the story and this paragraph makes sense.

This story takes place three long months after Raven left the Tower and the Titans, and at the moment she is still in Jump City.

I hope You like it, and if you don't...Deal with it.

Here we go, another story, I think I was fast.

* * *

_Raven Roth_

It was strange, that I lived alone, free from four other noisy super teens all couped up in a T-shaped tower, yet now was the time I would be kept up by other people.

I sat cross legged on my twin size bed, the only even slightly luxurious piece of furniture I owned now, and tried to meditate as the song blasting across from the speakers next door wound down to an end.

Some naive part of me hoped this would be the last song, after all, it was 1 o'clock in the morning. But it didn't come as much of a surprise when the speakers crackled and a I heard the sound of processed piano chords start up.

_All I ever wanted was to just see you smiling, all I ever wanted was too make you mine. _

Piano chords and a voice by themselves were just fine, but then of course, the synth had to start up, turning the song from slow and empty, to club music, in a couple of seconds.

_Oh goody. _

I growled darkly, trying to find my center. It wasn't like I needed to meditate lately, as I had expected, being by myself, at least when Jared wasn't here, was peaceful and relaxing. A breath of much needed fresh air and space. But when I did decide I wanted some time inside my head, for a change, I was now used to being undisturbed. But now I couldn't tap into my soul, it was lost among the loud beats. I stormed over to the window and slid it up, scowling as the cracked white paint flecked off some more.

Turns out the money that the government owed me was not as much as I thought, so it made sense to ration it since I had no job. The mayor had obviously not been expecting me to leave. They had no accounts, no money for us, and that would have stayed that way if not for, regrettably, Bruce Wayne calling up and putting on a scary voice . So now, They owed me, but it wasn't like they were making much. Taxes were all going to health care and education, and it wasn't like I could take that away. Most likely, I wouldn't see my money for several years. That didn't excuse the fact this apartment made Jared's look like a mansion.

Everything was chipped, everything was stained, and when I had gotten here, the closet-sized bathroom had a mold problem.

"OI!" I shouted over the drop to the next buildings window, where all the noise was coming from. Nothing. Just the glow of light and occasionally someone walking, or half-dancing, past. Hissing in frustration, I picked up the green scrubbing brush off the metal sink and chucked it at their window. I could go down and get it in the morning, or levitate it back up. A young man in black appeared there and slid his own window up, making the music even louder.

"What?!" He yelled across the gap, his expression annoyed, as a blond woman appeared at his side, his arm encircling his waist.

"Turn the music down!" I yelled, but the man just laughed, the woman echoing along with him. I growled, and narrowed my eyes.

Inwardly my emotions were screaming instructions at me, most determined to teach him a lesson, but not timid, who wanted to close the window and hide under our bedcovers.

The man shook his head, and put a hand to his window to slide it back down. His annoyance was _nothing_ compared to mine.

"Hey!" I hissed, but I knew he couldn't hear me. My anger was mounting in a way it hadn't for a long time. My life in this flat was tranquil, and this idiot was ruining it.

"I SAID TURN THE FUCKING MUSIC DOWN!" I cried out finally. I lost too much of my control, and I heard a deafening explosion and loud cracks. The man jumped out of view and the woman stared blankly, shocked, at something to the left.

I hastily shut my own window and lent against my wall, eyes wide and panting. I had blown up his speakers.

_Hmmn, that hasn't happened in a while _Knowledge mused. Irritated, I pushed down all the thoughts, at the same time, pushing myself to my feet, though slid the window back down and closed the shutters.

I knew exactly why it had happened, therefore I didn't need to listen to logic and knowledge tell me over and over again what the problem was. I knew I was a little edgy because any moment I was expecting Jared to show up with two tickets to Australia and my passport in hand.

After all, it had been three months since he had broached the subject with me, and since he was unpredictable, I didn't expect much notice. He wasn't exactly the most considerate man, and it wasn't like I had any plans for him to disrupt.

"That was interesting." Jared commented, smirking, from a darkened corner of my room. Thank Azar I was used to this by now, for outwardly I showed no sign of shock. My heart skipped a beat in my chest. I narrowed my eyes and sat down gracefully on the edge of my bed.

"This was cute when I was with the Titans. You might have even called it romantic. But now there's no need for sneaking around and hiding in the corner of the room, its just creepy." I replied in monotone, trying to lead us away from the subject of me blowing things up.

"I wouldn't want life to get boring for you." He shrugged, stepping forward in to the light of my lamp, running his hand through his child-like messy black hair. He used to have blue streaks in it, but it had long since faded out. His gray eyes were lit up with amusement as he looked me over.

"What are you doing here Jared? Its one in the morning, I could have been asleep." I sighed.

He sat down next to me. He was dressed in jeans and a jacket, nothing special or particuly suspicious.

"I had a feeling. Its not like I watch you sleep or anything."

"I can only hope that's true." I muttered, as he lent up against me. I had last seen him today, with Lela and her new partner Jenny, but I found myself never getting tired of his presence. I needed contact. I needed him.

"You could read my mind if you really wanted to know."

"I don't want to know what's in your mind." I said half truthfully. "I would have to slap you." On one hand, knowing what Jared was thinking would be…intriguing, yet on the other, it would most likely be mainly disgusting, sexual thoughts. Jared face spread out into a grin, lighting up the darkness of the night.

"A part of you likes it." He pointed out, wrapping his arm low around my waist. I reluctantly lent in to him.

"Shut it. You still haven't told me what your doing here." I said suspiciously. A late night 'shopping' spree perhaps? I hoped not.

It was a hard thing to try and stop him being Red-X. It was such a huge part of him, I had the feeling he couldn't keep the two identities separate anymore. Sure, he had moved on from things that would get the titans called to either things that were too petty, or too secret. I hoped it was the first, because secret usually meant _very _bad. I couldn't outright ask him to stop, I had no idea how much money he had, or how much he needed to get his brother. The private detective he had hired to find him in the first place must have cost him thousands.

I was scared of him changing as a person, but I would have no problem with the suit being shoved into the back of his closet.

It worked in my favor that Jared was feeling immense guilt every time money, the titans, my apartment, or my job was brought up. I could feel it empathetically.

I was working part-time as a shop assistant a couple times a week, and when Jared couldn't baby-sit the twins, I did, but that brought in only enough for food and rent. Since Jared _still _felt like I had somehow left the titans for him, he felt like it was his fault I had no money.

Funny how the situations had reversed, and now he was the one with the bigger house, and more money and resources. That was why he wasn't telling me when he had a Red-X job. He felt like he was betraying me by making his own income.

"I was just in the neighborhood." he smiled, kissing me on the forehead and then leaning his against mine. I hated and loved it when he did this. It was wonderful being so close, our breath mingling and feeling the energy between us, lips almost touching but not quite, but he was usually doing it to shut me up, and I knew it.

Still, this time, like most others, it worked, and I closed my mouth, letting myself just be, though my eyes were narrowed.

I had been doing a lot of it lately, and discovered it was good for you.

Keeping up training had been a must, so, for the first time, I had joined a gym. It had nothing on the personal one at the T-tower and was extremely expensive, but it got the job done. Even honorary titans had to stay in shape. And Robin would never forgive me If I gained a muffin top.

Starfire had stayed over the week after I left, since she had missed me so bad. It had been one of the longest nights in my life, but strangely…it had been _alright._

She wasn't as loud as I thought she would have been, but the excitable vibes coming off her were enough. We had watched disgusting chick flics, and she had attempted to make popcorn and the faulty wires had caught fire. The whole builing had to be emptied, but some of the firefighters had recognised Starfire and taken my word for it that I had put the fire out, and would get the electrics fixed. Overall embarassing and I got too many curious looks from the other tenants, so it wouldn't be an exercise I would likely repeat for a while.

"What was the real reason you came over here Jared?" I asked gently after a few minutes of sitting with him, foreheads touching, and just being. Physical contact that was based on love and not lust always calmed me down and made me more mellow and pleasant to talk with.

Maybe that was his intention, because he grimaced and pulled something out from his pocket, and if it weren't for the dark, I would have noticed it sooner. Unrolling the magazine, he handed it to me. My eyes blurred as I struggled to read the words in the darkness, and Jared sighed and leant back.

"It was at Tommy's place, its his girlfriends. It just came out today, I guessed you hadn't seen it yet." he said almost regretfully. I glanced down to see the cover of _Jump woman's weekly_, more importantly, the picture of Robin on the cover, walking somewhere alone, head down and focusing look on his face.

The huge title splashed across it read _Trouble in paradise, flight of the Raven. _

I had expected them to catch on quicker than this, but it was a blow all the same to see it written. I didn't want to read this right now. I pushed it back across the bed to Jared, who was watching me cautiously.

"I don't want to read it. We know the truth, I don't care what they think I'm doing." I replied to his unasked question. He nodded and rolled it back up.

"Probably the best decision." he agreed, moving back over to me, his arm coming back around my waist.

He had slowly gotten better at not trying to jump me every time we were alone together, possible because we were alone together so often these days. With nowhere to go and barley anything to do when I wasn't working, so much of my time was spent with him. And I found myself feeling the opposite of bored, even though, down on paper, being with the titans seemed more exciting.

In reality, the titans had bored me, and sitting in the dark with Jared felt like heaven. Tentatively I leant my head on his shoulder. He breathed out and rubbed my arm. It was one AM, but this didn't seem a strange thing to be doing at the time.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yes." I replied, feeling my eyelids start to droop in such a comfortable position. But lying down on the bed would be inviting trouble. He had gotten _better, _but that didn't mean he had stopped by any stretch of the imagination. Not according to the many times he had stayed the night.

"Still no regrets?" Jared asked.

"None" I said truthfully. I had needed this. I had known for sure the moment I had moved in to this disgusting, tiny flat that this was the path I was supposed to be on.

The hard sound of something vibrating on wood broke me out of my trance state back to life. Jared groaned as I jumped up, searching for the source. The sound seemed so….familiar. I pinpointed the sound, and pulled open the drawer it was coming from, to reveal a notebook, my meditation mirror, and of course, my lonely, now underused Titans communicator.

Jared was at my side in a moment, while inwardly my heart sped up and the feelings of tiredness evaporated with adrenalin. They said they would only call me on the communicator in case of an emergency. And the moment Robin's lips formed the words, I was already doubting that he would. I had figured pride would stand in his way. My blood ran cold at the thought of what was going on.

I snatched the vibrating disk out of the draw, shut it with my hip, hearing the squeaky runners protest, and flipped the communicator open, seeing Cyborg's familiar face pop up on the screen. I was calmed by the fact his face wasn't stricken, and he looked calm enough. The background was dark, and poorly lit, though what looked like leaves could be seen in the background.

"What is it?" Jared demanded irritably, either not understanding or not caring about the situation. It was most likely the latter, since he was always expecting the titans to try and snatch me back at some point.

Cyborg's face tightened slightly at the sound of Jared's voice, momentarily distracted by the thought of him in my room at one in the morning.

"Emergency at Pine Hill camp site." He ground out, and I cocked an eyebrow. A campsite? Who would want to kill, maim, or steal from people in a campsite? Cyborg noticed my look. "Murakami High school camping trip, attacked by hive, helped by a few others."

"That still doesn't sound like an emergency." Jared muttered at the same moment I said "I'll be there in ten minutes." with a stern look at him, as I snapped it shut again, hastily shoving it into the pocket of my navy track pants.

High school students always complicated things, and I understood why I was called in for backup. Their was always one dramatic girl who would scream something like 'he's got a gun' or 'he just injected me with a syringefull of DRUGS" that would cause every other kid to panic. I glanced around the small room, looking for my shoes, which had managed to get lost, even though this room was like a big closet with a bed, sink and oven in it. I settled on a pair of canvas shoes and stuffed my feet into them, trying to gauge the distance between here and Pine Hill in my mind. Taking the car would mean a longer time to get there, but teleporting all the way to Pine Hill would very likely deplete my energy seriously, and I wasn't exactly sure what we would be facing there.

"I'm coming with you." Jared said, as he watched me stumble ungracefully around bad tempered as I tied my laces and grabbed the keys to my car.

I didn't have the patience to disagree with him, so I just let him follow me out.

So, this was my first mission as an Honorary Titan, though that wasn't strictly true. I was more like an understudy, since I doubted every other HT was getting called out tonight. I hadn't seen the titans in a while. It was so difficult to find time, even though I was extremly underbooked. Jared slid into the seat beside me, once again upset that I wouldn't let him drive my Camero. In all truth I thought he was jelous, until I got another good look at his Moto Bike.

"I think I should take the wheel this time." He commented. I clicked my seatbelt in.

"No. You'll do something reckless like only driving on the two front tires." I muttered in all honesty.

"Scared?" he provoked me further, leaning back and stretching. I had no idea how he was going to help without the Red-X suit, but I supposed he could at least beat Gizmo into submission.

"Of tonight ending in a police chase? Yes." I responded, taking a corner sharply.

"But you drive like a nana."

I floured it just to prove him wrong, and flew down the high way, headed for Pine Hill camp site. So far all the streets were quiet and empty, like a ghost town. The moon was crescent, the stars all out, shinning brightly in the absence of city lights.

"Pretty" Jared commented, smirking.

"Idiot." I muttered, taking the turn off into the camp site, looking for signs of life. Up ahead I could see a bright light and hear the hum of movement that was getting louder. I pulled over. "We should get out here." I muttered. "It might get dented."

Jared chuckled but got out, sprinting ahead. I followed, trying to stick to the darkened uneven road and trying not to trip, at the same time keeping up with him. Jared was fast, and I could tell he was slowing down for me. My skin prickled at every movement in the trees, not because I was scared, but because every hooting owl could be Jinx. I owed her for the time she singed my hair many months ago. I didn't need light to lead me, the hum identified itself as yelling.

A terrified girl ran out of the scrub, holding a small torch to light the way. She jumped when She saw us, and let out a little yelp. I noted she was wearing a short pink silk nightgown, and was barefoot. She stared for a few seconds, like a deer caught in the headlights, before I grabbed Jared's wrist and pulled him in the direction she came from.

There was no time to take pity and stop.

It was like being hit with a bat. One second we were pushing our way past tree branches towards the noise, and the next we were blinded by the flood lights over the field and deafened by the shrieks of people running from cabins. Neither of us stopped in shock, Jared ran one way and I was already sprinting across the field, making a beeline for jinx. Her pink hair stood out easily across the field. I had told Cyborg that just because they were together, it didn't mean I was going to go easy.

I had to dodge teens in PJ's running in all directions, away from the violent fight between mammoth and Beastboy. None of this made any sense. Why was this even happening? Why were they here? I tried to watch them, to see what they were aiming at, edging towards, but nothing made any sense.

"Jinx!" I roared, lifting my arm up to attack, feeling magic fuel and spike up as I aimed for her back, but I was grabbed from behind by Kyd Wicked's magic, pulling me onto the damp grass, energy wrapped around my ankle. I tried to fight back, but before I knew it he had my arms restrained behind my back. Narrowing my eyes, I used my free leg to high kick him in what I thought was his groin, but you couldn't really tell with the bat cape he was wearing. I heard a grunt, and the strength of his magic depleted, and I used my own to override it. But then I was blinded by a jolt of fuchsia and I found I had a sudden strong head splitting migraine. I flipped over onto my stomach and through hazy eyes I saw Jinx's boots, and when I looked up with a groan I saw her standing over me.

I felt Kyd's black magic take me again, from the ankles, sneaking up and encasing me to my thighs, moving upwards. I understood why Jared always said my energy always felt cold to him when we teleported, this foreign magic felt like icy water submerging me.

"Jinx!" I hissed groggily, the headache still going strong as I struggled physically to free myself. Kyd was silent. I wondered if he knew about Cyborg, and what would happen if I mentioned it.

"Yes Raven?" She asked innocently.

_Bitch! _Desire screamed. _Let rage out!_ She urged me. My whole body was effectively paralyzed on the camp ground field, and I could still hear screaming. The nearest titan I could see was Beastboy, but he was fighting with Mammoth under the glow of the flood light, effectively damaging the side of one Cabin that I was surprised was still standing.

I moaned as my head throbbed at the noise. I suddenly felt very drowsy. Vaguely I wondered if Kyd was doing this. I didn't want to go to sleep, I didn't want to think about where I would wake up if I did.

And then I felt my alertness return and the foreign magic disappear from my body at the same time I head a loud moan. Kyd's body landed lightly next to mine, his body shapeless under his cloak.

"Magic isn't everything." Jared smugly said from above me.

"My hero." I muttered sarcasticly, though in all truth I was grateful, as I shoved myself back up on my feet hastily. Jinx was a foot away, and had just realized her team mate had been taken out and that now it was two on one in _my _favor.

"Azarath Metrion Zynthos!" I shouted without missing a beat, trapping her in a shield. "Go help Beastboy." I told Jared, who frowned, but followed my command. I had no idea what he was going to do up against mammoth without his red-X suit, but my attention was quickly diverted.

To my left I heard ear-piercing shrieks, and saw a flash of orange, and smelt burning wood. A cabin to my far left was on fire thanks to Gizmo, embers falling from the air around it, as people fled.

Great.

It seemed their only aim was to cause as much destruction as possible.

"What the hell?" I shouted at Jinx, who smiled that unhinged grin and remained silent.

Suddenly I was surrounded by panicking teenagers in pj's, the shrubbery and trees around the border of the cabins making this all the more harder as people tried to dodge and run at the same time, seriously harming my focus. A girl ran past me, blond hair flying behind her. I had to do something to slow them down, they were gonna hurt themselves more.

"Azarath metrion zynthos!" I yelled, aiming more energy from my other hand at the biggest group of people. A black glistening shield rose up and encased the teens, causing more screams, but at least keeping them safe and still.

"TERRA!" a girl shrieked, and the blond girl who had managed to avoid my shield looked around to her friend. Even in the dark I saw her blue eyes widen, and I also saw that she wasn't paying attention to where she was running. She smashed headlong into the thick trunk of a tree, and was immediately stepped on by others running.

_Damnmit. _

I had to go check on her, their might be injuries. Kyd was back up, ready to attack again, so I used this moment to let Jinx out of her prison. Robin was close, I could hear him shouting something at Cyborg, let him take care of it. Stepping carefully over tree roots, I hurried over to the girl. She was just pushing herself up, groaning and shaking her head, twigs and leaves tangled into her blond hair. I knelt down, and offered her a hand. I wasn't usually this helpful, maybe I was in a good mood.

Even in this dark light I recognized that face.

"Raven?" Terra asked in astonishment, dusting off her teddy pajama shorts, eyes wide like saucers.

"Oh Azar" I uttered, staring back, stunned, but inwardly moaning in denial. She remembered. My good mood instantly disapeared.

* * *

Straight into it. Yes, This is all in the plan. What a tangled web I weave.

REVEIW FOOLS.


	2. Terra

There are probably spelling and grammer mistakes in it. But its late and I'm tired and sick. Swine flu most likely.

Kuyeng 13-the heart logos - Its not exactly a shack...its more of a fix-er-upper. That can't be fixed. Its like a crappier version of Jared's apartment complex. I hate terra too. But I'm trying to keep open minded. I don't want to portray her as some crazy whore.

Dragonfriend7738 - I know its quick. I had written up the first chapter and was like "Its been a month right?" And then I posted it and saw it had been like a week.

Jinx will join the titans....later. Very later. When I feel is right. Which is when I can't think of anything else to write. And your right, Robin really doesn't care about Jinx that much, so he wouldn't have such a hard time letting her do communtiy servace.

I had to introduce Terra early. She my fuse for this story. The boom is going to go off soon. Cause she definatly remembers everything. Cause she uncoordinated and runs into trees.

The english language _is_ fucked. You need to become a beta-reader so you can fix it for me.

Kadija! - Robin is in this chapter! Slightly. Next chapter he will be in more.

Ravens life is exciting. Just not so...dangerous and strange. Don't worry, I'll fix that soon.

Robin is not _'in love'_ with Raven now. But he wishes things were different. Which I will go over in the next chapter.

d-a28b - You _know_ I'm up to no good. Lol.

Shadow - The press. Wanna guess who wrote that article? Good old Terrin Gold! That is what I called him, right? well, I'm defintly not going to go check.

Yeah, X fought without his suit. I'll describe it more in this chapter, but next chapter will have more.

I think theres a sadist in all of us. This is the only place we can let it out lol. Your very smart, it was the shock that made her forget to repress. Shes such a dumbass.

breaker99 - I hope I updated fast enough-I have no sonse of time.

cinnamon sweet - Beastboy will be pretty happy. Raven kinda likes working with them, but it doesn't feel the same. But they are not going to africa, they are going to australia. Two completly seperate contrys.

Blackangeldust - Wow. Thats extremly hillarious! oh well, the Jenny in this story is lovely. she'll make you proud. unless your uncomfortable with her being very lesbian. I'm laughing right now.

There will be a whole lotta jared/rae cuteness at the end of this chapter. Seriously, you'll cringe with love. No0w I've updted my story again, you have to update yours.

I don't own shit, other people do. So don't even try to sue me. Besides, it would take a long long time to find out where I live. 

* * *

_Raven Roth_

I looked at Terra, and she looked at me.

Cerulean eyes locked with violet, both colored with disbelief.

The shock of hitting the tree had brought the bitch's memory back and we were seeing each other in the flesh again for the first time in almost three years.

Of course I had thought of her from time to time, none of the thoughts being pleasant, especilly not when Beastboy had said he had seen her again. But I had put all of the theorys and curiosity to rest. Now I couldn't stop staring. Though neither could she.

I had no doubt we could have knelt on the ground by the fringe of the woods and stared at each other for half an hour, but as it was, more Cabins were going up in flames, as Gizmo set up tiny bombs, for no apparent reason.

The shield that had been containing about thirty teens had disappeared with my shock, and now they were off running again, with no direction and no visibility. Flashes of green appeared over the far end of the field, and I assumed it was Starfire.

"Stay here." I ordered, but I saw the resilience, the imminent rebellion in her eyes. Same old Terra, that was for sure. It was obvious she remembered, whether it was the bump to the head, or she had just suddenly decided to stop repressing her memories, I didn't know. What I did know was that she had comprehension dawning on her face, in her eyes, as if every thing was falling into place in her head, finally making sense. For a moment she looked in pain, yet now she was pushing herself up off the ground, determined.

"I said stay!" I commanded, in my best impersonation of an authoritive Robin, as I got ready to sprint over and help Jared subdue Kyd, or at least contain the blazes before it reached the woods and caused a devastating bush fire. Terra ignored me and tried to follow, though her steps were misplaced and she was constantly losing her footing on tree roots, and possibly tripping over her own confused feet.

"Raven!" I heard Beastboy's whiny call from across the field. For some reason I felt a little guilty when I flicked around and blocked Terra from view, just in case he had super sight even out of his animal forms, and could recognize her in the dark. I had never really asked, and him seeing her would mar his concentration.

Beastboy had Gizmo in a headlock, but the kid was struggling hard, kicking at biting like an upset toddler. Robin had Jinx in cuffs, and I could see Cyborg was close, his expression torn. Jinx didn't look worried, just slightly pissed off, her eyes narrowed at Robin, who was pretending not to notice. It would be interesting to see what my big brother would do; stay with Robin and pretend nothing was bothering him, or free Jinx when he wasn't looking, betraying the titans but saving his…_lover _from a long time coming prison term.

Urgh.

I ran forward while Terra stumbled around. It might not have been the smartest thing to do, but I couldn't hear logic through Jealously, Rage and Desire. My head was jumbled, this camp site was burning and that was all that mattered right now.

"Can you put out the fire?" Robin asked in businesslike tones, no greeting or anything of the like as I reached the group. Starfire and Cyborg were standing with him, occasionally coughing from the smoke, eerily lit up by the flickering light thrown off of the fire.

"I can try." I offered darkly. I had never tried to put out a fire with my powers alone, but it looked like that was what I would have to do since their was nothing close that could put it out for me. "Azarath Metrion Zynthos!"

My energy contained the nearest cabin, and I tried to push the fire down, but nothing much happened. The black energy seemed to act only as another layer of fire. The ground underfoot was moist, but still too stuck together for me to rip it up and throw it on to put the blaze out. My ability to move objects wasn't strong enough for that. Robin growled.

"We're gonna have to start dousing." he muttered. Many of the school children had been corralled into lines by a few haggard teachers, while the other had headed for the woods with torches to search for other students who were probably lost and alone, scared out of their minds. They were shivering in skimpy Pj's and shell-shocked, all of them watching Jared wrestle Kyd to the ground, eyes wide. Even the owners of the camp site, or who I assumed were the owners because of their utterly devastated expressions, were sparing him a glance.

I found myself watching as well, as Jared easily pinned Kyd up against the tree, taking obvious joy out of slamming the side of his face into the tree trunk so he couldn't use his magic, pine cones scattering everywhere with heavy thumps while most of the girls watched avidly, wishing he would talk to them, and most of the boys watched with awe, wishing they could _be_ him.

Empathy told me they were impressed, and for some reason my emotions didn't like it. It even distracted them from Terra for a moment.

It was clear Jared was in control. And enjoying it. His smirk was easy to make out in the semi-darkness. I could picture it clearly in my head, see the muscles moving in his arms. I was broken out of my gawking by Robin, chucking me a large yellow bucket, pulling it seemingly from out of nowhere. The blush that would have appeared on my cheeks once upon a time would have been bright beet red, but now it was just a faint pink flush, that he might have missed. hopefully.

I looked over my shoulder, over to the tree that Terra had run into, but found I couldn't see it from here. And I couldn't see Terra anywhere either. This was almost worse than seeing her in the first place. Right now she could be anywhere, talking to anyone.

"There's a water tank about half a mile away." Robin told the whole group, one hand still holding Jinx by the back of her shirt so she couldn't get away and the other holding a stack of buckets. "Beastboy, we're going to need more of these." he said quickly. He was hard to hear over the sound of the flames and the Cabin crumbling inwardly.

Beastboy was still struggling with Gizmo. I took pity and held him down with my powers, so Gizmo was stuck pinned to the ground, unable to fight anymore. Beastboy looked up at me, puffing in exhaustion from keeping the little freak at bay for so long, a silent thank you, though it was still half-hearted. He was still cold to me, but it seemed like Karma for the way I had treated him a while back.

"Hurry up!" Robin ordered, as the fire roared, and the gray smoke cloud increased. Cyborg started coughing hoarsely. Jared pulled Kyd over, coming into the flickering light. As their faces left the darkness, I could see Kyd was glaring at me and Jared was smirking.

"Got any spare handcuffs chuckles?" Jared asked, shoving Kyd into Robin so he had to drop the buckets to hold onto him. Jared came and stood next to me. "We left ours at home."

I made a mental note to slap him later, as Cyborg stopped coughing and looked over in suspicion, horror dawning on his face at the innuendo.

"I hadn't got time for this! Get to the water tank!" Robin yelled mercifully, marching both Jinx and Kid over to what looked like the head teacher and handing them both over.

"We're not livestock" Jinx complained loudly.

All the teachers and students took a visible step back, eyes terrified. Robin breathed out, and closed his eyes in frustration.

"STARFIRE!" He roared, over the sound of the burning. Starfire came running, her swinging red hair the same color as the flames.

"Yes Robin?" She asked nervously, holding her hands behind her back, while we stood around watching, not knowing what to do. Where were the firefighters?

"Look after these!" He commanded, looking around. He looked at us piercingly. "What are you waiting for!? The water tank!"

I coughed as smoke tickled the back of my mouth, tasting like ash.

"He's not in a very good mood is he?" Jared noted in amusement, though his voice was hoarse.

"Well _his_ mood might improve if _you_ stop making sexual comments." I hissed, about to run in the direction Robin had jogged off in. Jared grabbed my arm, holding me back. I looked up at him.

"Hey, calm down Angel. Stress is bad for you." The effect of his wise comment was ruined by loud shrieks from the female students. We both spun around to see the main hall on fire, noxious black smoke pouring out the doors and windows.

"Azar." I sighed, but my sigh was caught in my throat as I saw Terra had finally made her way over from the trees. Robin and Cyborg were already back with two bucket full of water each, sprinting faster than I had ever seen them, but clearly losing enthusiasm.

My mind stuttered, trying to figure out a way to stop her. But it was too late, she already had her arms raised, and her eyes were glowing yellow.

"Uh, who is she?" Jared asked with a raised eyebrow. Robin threw his sad little bucket over the nearest cabin, having little to no effect. I felt the ground shake and closed my eyes. I didn't want to see this.

I didn't want her here. This wasn't my life anymore, but that did not mean she could have it. The last time she was here, she ruined everything, and when Beastboy said she couldn't remember, I had breathed a sigh of relief.

I heard a sound like the earth was being pulled apart, and then collective gasps around me. I didn't want to open my eyes until it was over.

"Terra?" I heard Cyborg say in disbelief, but the worst part was Jared's;

"oh", like he suddenly understood what was going on. He must have known about what had happened with her. Of course he would. He was a villain. At one time he would have laughed about it, happy that we had been so trusting, and so foolish.

This hurt in my chest. Knowing people as good as Jared thought our desision had been foolish. Knowing people hd wanted us to fail, and where happy when it happened.

The pattering sound of dirt being dropped from a great height reached my ears and I cringed, realizing what she was doing. Terra was doing what I couldn't, and putting the fire out.

I opened my eyes and first saw the amazing sight of a huge crater in the ground behind Terra, whose eyes had returned to their normal blue and who was standing, panting, by herself exactly where she had been before, still in her teddy bear PJ's.

"Terra?" A softer, more vulnerable, younger and hopeful sounding voice than the one that usually belonged to Beastboy asked behind me. I spun around, seeing a boy with the happiest look on his face, in front of a still smoking bunch of cabins, buried in separated clumps of dirt. Next to him, the faces of Students and teachers were painted with awe and most of all, relief. My ex-teammates were all grinning, and Starfire's hands were clasped in joy in front of her chest. I slowly turned around to see Terra smile weakly at Beastboy, but no one could deny the smile lit up the dark campsite, however tired it was.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Jared Wilson_

I saw Raven swallow back a nasty retort and cross her arms tightly over her chest, her carmine pink lips set in a tight line.

Every Titan nodded, most unconsciously, at what Terra, the tiny blond girl, had just said in her explanation of the events that had taken place tonight. I had thought Lela and tiny Jenny were little, but this girl looked like she might be blown away by the wind. You would never know by looking at her that she had the power to lift boulders and rip craters in the ground with only her mind.

Of course I had heard all the stories. Everyone who considered themselves on the opposite side of the law to the titans had heard. It had grown into legend, that would probably be told to our grand-kids. The fact that a little girl had managed to trick Robin and co. into letting her join their team, and then taking them all down one by one until she had control of the city, made every criminal giddy with delight. It had been a big moral boost to know it was possible.

Now that I knew Raven the way I did, knew how things affected her and saw the way she was reacting to Terra's return, I felt slightly ashamed of the way I had laughed hysterically when I had first heard the story. More guilt. She didn't need anymore problems from me. I was carefully watching every move she made, to see how hard she was taking this.

Maybe Terra had done something especially terrible to Raven, because the others wouldn't take their eyes of Terra, whereas Raven scoffed at everything she said. We were sitting away from the main group, on Ravens wordless insistence, while the titans all orbited around Terra like she was the sun, sitting on the floor at the foot of the couch she was sitting on, or standing behind, watching her. If they had been paying attention to Raven, they would have noticed her dark looks.

"And then I remember lots of the girls screaming, so I ran out of the cabin with them and it was really dark and I couldn't see much." Terra sighed. Beastboy, who was sitting very close next to her, reached out and squeezed her shoulder. Gagging would seem childish, so I refrained. Only just. I had noticed he had been hanging off her every word. The green kid was in love with her, and by the looks of things, had been for a while.

"So the next thing I know these freaks just come out of nowhere, and the B block cabins are on fire. My friend Gin ran into the woods so I went to follow her but then I think my other friend Becky called out my name because I heard something, so I turned around, and that's when I hit the tree." Terra blushed slightly and Cyborg laughed loudly, grinning teasingly. He was sitting on her other side, and I caught the way Ravens face fell, before becoming harder. She balled her hands up into tight fists, trying to conceal her intense irritation.

Every time one of the titans made any kind of contact with Terra, Raven seemed to get more silently worked up. It was funny. Cute.

Raven was jealous. I wasn't quite sure why. It defiantly wasn't looks. Terra was blond and blue-eyed, but way too skinny. And after all, Raven wasn't even fully human. She was, literally, something else. Blondie simply couldn't compete. And I doubted she was going to try.

"Well, it really hurt. And I heard someone ask if I was okay, so I got up, and then I saw Raven. Everything flooded back and suddenly I remembered _everything _again." Everyone looked at Raven, and I noticed Beastboy's expression was softer than usual. Like he was _thanking_ her. Good. He had been acting like a little whiny bitch, and I didn't know whether that was how he always was, or because of me.

Raven expertly changed her expression from cold to neutral. It must have taken a lot of effort, it was late, almost four o'clock in the morning, and she hadn't had any sleep. She was tired, and her usually flawless façade was slipping.

"And then their were more fires, so Raven left-"

"Wait, you knew she remembered?" Robin asked Raven, cutting Terra off. The way he said it sounded like an accusation. I straightened my back.

If that dickhead wanted to attack her at this time of night, I was going to be the one who stopped him. Raven didn't leave them so she could get this crap.

"I couldn't be sure that she remembered," She said easily, which meant she was lying. "I thought it would be more useful for me to try and put out the fire before it reached the forest than sit around."

Terra attempted a half smile, though it was clear she sensed Ravens hostility, and continued with her story. I watched Robin calm back down. I half wanted him to start yelling so I could brake his nose.

"but I saw no one could put the fire out, and then I realized I had done it before, so I just did what felt natural, and it worked." she shrugged humbly, pulling her blanket closer around her body.

"It was awesome!" Beastboy grinned. Raven sighed loudly and tucked a strand of violet hair behind her ear, biting her lip. Her expression was intensly pissed.

That was the moment I knew I was staying over at hersfor the remainder of the night. One, it was almost four in the morning, and no way was I driving to Raven's and then driving to mine. And two, I couldn't wait to get her home. She looked so cute when she was jealous.

The Titans seemed to ignore Raven, on purpose or because they were tired and didn't hear I didn't know. "And we left your room just the way it was before!" Beastboy said enthusiastically. I fought the urge to throw up again, and kept my mouth shut. Sunshine wouldn't thank me for causing a fight at this time of the morning.

Terra smiled.

"I am tired."

"I mean, you don't have to stay of you don't want to..." Beastboy said quickly, then trailed off nervously.

"But, the invitation to resume your place on the team is certainly there." Robin said for him.

Ravens eyes narrowed, and she closed her delicate eyelids. She looked like she was about to explode. I had seen this expression before, and knew it took her a while to calm down for it.

"We should go." I said hastily, standing up. "Its late and I've got class in the morning."

This was an excuse. I just wanted her to get to bed, so she wouldn't be pissed in the morning, and so I could talk to her in private.

Among other things.

Terra's head flicked around in surprise.

"Go where?" She asked blankly. I predicted Raven's reaction, and wasn't at all surprised.

"Home." Raven said aggressively, picking up her keys from the bench and standing up. Terra's eyebrows shot up in confusion."What do you mean?"

Raven shot her a look which clearly said _idiot. _

"I mean I'm going home." She replied sharply. "To _my_ apartment. Where _I_ live. And Jared is going to _his_ home. To _his_ apartment. Where _he_ lives." she elaborated slowly.

"You mean your not a Titan anymore?" She asked in surprise.

"Obviously." Raven said scathingly. Terra's eyes flicked over to me, looking me over.

Before I knew what was happening, Raven had my hand in hers, and was standing much closer than she had been before, almost _territorial. _I couldn't help it, I grinned.

Robin looked at us all awkwardly.

"Uh Raven, can you come back tomorrow for follow up?"

My grin fell of my face. He kept trying to get Raven back in to the tower, and it had only been three months.

Raven nodded distractedly and pulled me towards the elevator.

"See you." She muttered darkly.

We walked into the elevator without a word to each other, but I felt her relax as soon as the doors close. She dropped my hand, but I grabbed hers back. She sighed yet didn't resist.

"You okay?" I asked. She looked at me, violet eyes tired.

And then she let lose, eyes dark.

"Why the hell does she have to remember now?! After all she's put us through!" Raven hissed, before glancing at me again. "You must know what she did." her eyes narrowed.

"Uh yeah" I admitted nervously. I barely ever saw her this worked up anymore. She didn't linger over it.

"So you know she betrayed us. And their up there," she gestured above her head somewhere as we stepped out into the garage and over to her car. "acting like she's Azars latest fucking miracle!" She unlocked the Camaro and pulled the door open violently. I didn't bother asking if I could drive. I slid in the front seat and clicked my door shut a lot more softly than she did.

"Terra's so fragile yet heroic." She muttered sarcastically. "So traumatized yet positive" she slammed her foot down and sped towards her place. "She's such a," She turned the corner sharply. "Traitor." She spat the word.

"Calm down Sunshine." I tried to sooth her, though I was fighting down a chuckle. She looked extremely pissed, glaring at the dark road ahead. "Just tell me what's really wrong."

She pursed her full lips, but seemed to calm slightly and sink back into her seat.

The car's cab was silent for a few minutes while thought it over. I watched her, stared at her body hunched angrily over the steering wheel. Her soft curves illuminated by the street lights we passed.

Finally she broke the silence, her voice even.

"She's taking my place Jared. They needed a new titan any way." Raven sighed, but I sensed her putting up a wall.

"Don't shut me out." I said softly, wishing I could grab her without causing her to crash and wrapping us around a power pole. "What happened last time?"

"She came, she saw, she conquered. She passed information to Slade right under our noses, and it _looked_ like she changed her mind in the end and _they _believe her, but _we_ can't be sure."

"Its not your problem anymore." I insisted.

I wished the titans would dissapear so we could get on with life. we could go for a week, pretending they didn't exist, but then she had to go visit them, or they would ask her to help them, and it would be dragged back out again.

"There still my friends Jared. Maybe we don't work together anymore, but there still my friends. And she-"

"Is taking your place" I answered for her.

"Since when were you a psychologist?" She asked in irritation. I smiled wryly.

"I've learnt a lot from you."

"Yes, well, I don't like her there. Cyborg, he's treating her like he treats me. Like a sibling. Robins not shouting, or issuing commands. Starfire is _beaming _but none of that is anything compared to the expression on Beastboy's face. He's come alive again. Its like she never left." Though she said it in an offhand way, her eyes were filled with steel. She was in pain.

"So you want me to stay over tonight?" I asked slowly.

"One, its morning. Two, your actually asking me this time?" The corner of her lip twitched, and she pulled up to the curb, sighing and looking over at me.

"Fine. You have no choice. I'm staying whether you like it or not." I said, leaning across the arm rest to grab her around the waist and kiss the hollow of her neck. She smelled familiar, and I asociated the scent with home.

Raven was my home now.

"That's better." She said sarcastically, reaching up to pry my arms off. I silenced her with a kiss.

She finally responded, and I heard her sigh a little. Grinning while kissing her, I knew this was what she needed.

* * *

I want ten reviews. Cheer me up, I'm sick


	3. GreenEyed

I am better now! Swine flu is all gone, and to celebrate, I'm posting.

Poison's Ivy - I'm glad my updating made your day better, thats like, my main aim. Who could rally ask for more?

Kuyeng13-The Heart Logos - I actually hate being sick. I wanted to go to school. I wanted to see my friends, and do PE and watch movies in History. But I had to stay home in bed instead. It was really gay. No Jared POV in this chapter, but there is some Terra.

Cinnamon Sweet - They didn;t forget what Terra did, but they'd like to. And Robin will keep an eye on her. It might even be his new obsession.

Shadow - I kinda like the tree. I mean, it was just standing there, as it had done for years, and some chick ran into it. I did a Terra point of veiw, even if it is muddled. It was hard to get inside the head of someone I don;t like. This chapters a little short, and doesn;t really have a clear point, but if you look close enough....

BlackAngelDust - I'd be real freaked out if I saw my name in a story. But thats because my real name is fucked and unusual. The titans were rther ignorant, but they were shocked. You've updated twice since I last updated, so I can;t make you. But I would really like you to.

Driftstar - Wow, you have to work hard to read this. I hope its worth it. Everyone seems to seriously hate Terra. Don;t worry, I'm not gonna turn them onto best friends or anything, I hate it when people do that.

GiseMichaela - He's not taking advantage! well, only a little bit. Theres not full sex, but you _know _its happened and you _know _its gonna happen in this chapter. You like betrayel don't you? Wait two chapers.

Lol. Fuck body.

Alexander - Dead Terra? Interesting....betrayels, love, lust, kids and sex are all coming. Very dark.

Read on.

* * *

_Raven Roth_

I woke up to find Jared still sleeping next to me, his hot-blooded arm curled loosely around my bare stomach. The thin red numbers on my alarm clock read 9:45. I sighed and pushed my hair back, sitting up.

Today I had to go back to the T-tower, to go over last night. But I wasn't part of the team anymore, and Robin knew that more than anybody. He wanted something. Most likely Robin just wanted my thoughts and opinions on Terra. I scowled. Shouldn't it be obvious by now? I had only held my tongue about her before to spare Beastboy's feelings. I didn't see the point, talking about her when she wasn't there. Better to let sleeping dogs lie. Yet here she was.

"Jared wake up" I muttered, giving him a shove on the side of his muscled torso. His skin was much warmer than mine. A long time ago I would have blushed and tried to ignore that we were both naked. That I was _sleeping _with Jared. Something I would never get used to. No part of me could say, even in my mind, that this was something normal. His heavy body didn't move at all.

I wanted him to come with me. Part of it was pointing out to Terra that I had succeeded at something. Something I knew she would deem important. A big group of my emotions were protesting this new control Jealousy seemed to have gained in a few short hours. I didn't need to prove anything to Terra. But the fact remained that I wanted to. The other part wanted his support. When It all boiled down, I knew I could count on him. For anything.

I shoved Jared harder, both hands this time, intent on rolling him over so he had to face the sunlight. He moaned and buried his face in the pillow, the corner of which was wearing away so I could see a few downy feathers poking out.

"Please get up." I said, voice anything but pleading.

"No." He murmured, his voice muffled. He was acting like a child. Nothing could stop him when he got going. I sighed and got out of bed, the only thing that might help.. "Hey get back here!" he ordered, trying in vain to pull me back down.

I dodged his hands successfully, as he turned his head to look up at me.

"No." I replied airily, wrapping a towel securely around my nude body. Last night _had_ been wonderful, but as always, it was time to get back to my life. Sometimes I wished I only existed in the confines of my crappy little room, with Jared. Or Living on a deserted island somewhere, no bitchy blond geomancers to bother us.

I flung open my closet door to find something reasonable to wear today.

I never took much notice of what I was going to wear usually, but today was a day to piss Terra off. To show her I was free now, and that I didn't want whatever she thought she was taking from me. That it was my left overs.

The contents of my wardrobe weren't exactly full of choices. Jeans. T-shirts. My one old uniform. I saw something I had first noticed while I was moving in.

When I had moved out it was in a rush. That day I had to meet with the mayor regarding my disappointing payment and then find a place to live. I had just thrown out five pairs of my uniform, and left one as a keepsake, shoving it into a box with a whole load of other clothes. I hadn't noticed the change until I had finished the slow process of unpacking all my books, scrolls and magical items and started the relatively speedy process of unpacking my clothes.

My uniform had turned white, and I hadn't even really noticed.

Something inside of me shifted, the way it always did when I thought of Jared, and only Jared. Jealousy was pushed back, and what desire wanted changed. Like I had taken on Jared's viewpoint that Terra didn't matter, and it wasn't really my problem anymore.

"Jared…?" I asked quietly, turning around and tucking a strand of my violet hair behind my ear. It was much too long, and it got in the way a lot. But Jared liked it and it made sense. New Raven, new hairstyle. Long and luxurious. At least when it was brushed.

"Yeah?" he replied groggily, looking up at me, half smiling, running a hand through his messy ink black hair. His needed a cut too.

"Maybe we can stay in bed for…another hour or two." I said slowly, letting my towel drop as I slid back in next to him.

He grinned my favorite grin, and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me closer. My stomach clenched as he kissed me, deliberately slow, on my collarbone, getting lower and lower.

"I knew you couldn't resist." He laughed breathily in my ear, before sucking at my neck.

"Mmnnn…."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Terra Markov_

I ran my hand across the wall, fighting the urge to open every door, to see if I could guess what would be behind them. To see if everything was the same as before. My room certainly had been. It was like I had just stepped out for a moment and came straight back. I had thought maybe there would be a layer of dust, or sheets over the chair in the corner or the desk, or even a few of my things that had been broken in anger after I first betrayed them. Maybe even a completely empty room, yet, everything was perfectly where I had wanted it. Beastboy must have cleaned it every few days. I smiled faintly, walking down the hallway.

He was so good to me. They all were.

I passed Starfire's room. I was looking forward to spending more time with her, so she could fill me in on what had gone on while I had been…taking a break.

The memories hadn't come back slowly. They had flooded in quickly, until I remembered everything, even how I had asked Slade to make me forget it all. I remember every little detail of our meeting. And I remember the pain. How scared I was.

Because no matter how I had tried, I couldn't escape the thoughts swirling around my head with nowhere to go, relentless. Even my dreams had been pain-filled. Slade had been my only option. Him and his hypnosis.

I did it out of fear.

They had put a plaque in front of my 'grave', but how was I supposed to know they truly forgave me? I was terrified I would show up and the Titans would turn me away. Now I felt intense relief. Beastboy's face was the most welcoming sight I can recall a long while back. Its still the same.

Relief wasn't all I felt though. I was guilty. My friends Gin and Vicky would be worried about me. Yet I couldn't go back. Not to that mindless school. I didn't regret what I did. But I still wanted to fix it somehow. And this tower was the only home I had that was still standing.

I hadn't expected the effects of hypnosis. Everything that had happened to me in my life made me who I was, and all of it had been erased. The moment I hit the tree I realized this, and at the same time, realized I hadn't been happy, when I was pretending things were fine. Now I had no regrets of what happened, because that's who I was now.

Not that I expected to suddenly be completely fulfilled. But The Titans were my future, and any guilt I felt for leaving school was overshadowed by hope.

Hope for a fresh, clean start.

I passed the door to Ravens room, missing its signature sign stating her name. Because she didn't live here anymore.

Truthfully, I was scared of her. The way she had looked at me last night was like she wanted me dead. Her eyes were insane. Filled with hate. And then she had just left, leaving a big question mark hanging over my head. Somehow I couldn't imagine her anywhere but here. Without the only people who could…it sounded horrible… but without the only people who could _Stand her._

Her cold stares and silence.

I had always found it hard to weather her hard looks and the way she ignored everything I said. But we had ended up almost friends. Maybe with more time we would have been like her and Starfire. The three of us. That wouldn't happen now.

Because unlike the other titans, it was clear she didn't forgive me.

She clearly couldn't stand _me._

It was weird. Everybody seemed to like me. Not romantically, just in a little sister, best friend way. Nothing to do with my powers. At the school, when I hadn't remembered I had abilities, I had been popular. It was just my personality. I wasn't conceited. It was horrible being thought of like I was. Cute little Terra. Everyone's friend.

Except for Raven of course.

And her…boyfriend?

I don't recall her ever touching _anyone _before. But she grabbed that mans hand, and went home with him. I was really confused. I needed answers. It was just too unbelievable to contemplate without talking to someone who had the knowledge.

I stepped into the common room, to find Robin reading his paper. This was familiar. I remembered this. It felt…safe. He had a steaming cup full of coffee next to him. As soon as my boot scuffed against the floor, he looked up and smiled widely.

"Terra! Did you sleep well?"

I nodded, as Beastboy and Cyborg appeared out of nowhere. Cyborg had his chiefs hat on, and Beastboy had a plain white apron covering his uniform, a large bowl in hand.

"Terra!" They both cried at the same time, before stopping to glare at one another. I stifled a laugh.

"Do you want me to make you some Tofu?" Beastboy asked. Cyborg elbowed him out of the way.

"Fool." He muttered, eyes closed, shaking his head, before addressing me. "You want some bacon don't you? All American Bacon." Beastboy opened his mouth to argue, but Robin shot him a look.

"Just make some damn waffles." He sighed, going back to his paper. Cyborg looked crestfallen, but helped Beastboy go about collecting ingredients.

Now that I looked, Beastboy had changed. He was much taller, about as tall as Robin would be when he stood up, and not as skinny as he used to be. His hair was also a bit longer, still green, and he still had his cute fang poking out of the corner of his mouth.

Cyborg was the same as always, I guess he was huge already, and his human side just wasn't ready to age. Robin; it was possible his dark hair was a little less gelled, and a little longer. His face a little more serious from stress.

I felt so guilty that I had put some of it there.

Starfire skipped over enthusiastically.

"Can I help?" She asked, and I was instantly awed by the sweet and hopeful tone of her voice. Starfire was just as beautiful as ever, green eyes sparkling. The boys faces instantly paled.

"Uh…we've got it under control." Cyborg said carefully, as if defusing a bomb. There was a second of silence, before Starfire nodded a little sadly.

"Um…so who was that guy with Raven last night?" I asked curiously, sitting down at the bench next to Robin. Starfire settled on my other side.

This felt so right. Every movement I made seemed like it had been waiting for me to do it. A nice kind of déjà vu.

Instantly, Robins newspaper lowered, and he rested it down on the bench top. I noted he looked _angry, _bitter, his face set in a hard expression_. _Starfire gave a nervous sort of giggle.

"Oh that was Jared." Cyborg said flippantly, getting milk from the fridge. "hes…." Cyborg couldn't seem to find the right word, so he trailed off.

"Okay" Beastboy shrugged. Cyborg looked at him in shock, setting the milk down.

"You hate him!" He said accusingly. Beastboy shrugged again.

"Hes…" he trailed off too, uncomfortable under Robins intense glare.

"What happened?" I asked awkwardly, referring to everything. Raven, Jared, how he got there and Robins hatred of him.

Robin sighed, his expression melting into neutral.

"We can't really tell you until you decide if your gonna be a titan or not." He said apologetically, no trace of resent.

"I wanna be a titan again." I replied firmly, not skipping a beat. Beastboy looked up happily, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Are you sure?" Robin asked, considering me. I nodded.

"I know it will take a while for you guys to trust me again, but I definatly want to do this." I said forcefully. I needed to convince them I could do this. I needed it with everything in me. I hoped it came across in my voice.

They all looked me over for a few moments, in which my heart rate increased with nerves. What if they said no…?

"Okay. Your on trial for a week." Robin grinned, his serious face cracking. I smiled back gratefully, knowing this would be hard for him. There would always be doubt.

"I won't disappoint you" I said, unable to tone down my smile. It seemed to be infectious, because everyone was smiling back.

"So what do you want to know?" Robin asked easily.

"Who exactly is Jared?"

He had looked…nice. His gray eyes had been sparkling the whole time, mischievous, but trying to quell it. Because of Raven? Or Robin?

"Jared started out as an enemy named Red-X. He wasn't….evil. Just a thief. Anyway, Raven kinda fell for him." Cyborg said flippantly.

I gaped.

But Raven hated criminals with a passion. And Jared looked so…not innocent, but like he could be sweet if he wanted to. He didn't match Raven at all. He just didn't look like he could hurt anyone, let lone be a criminal. Although that must be what they say about me.

The thing that I couldn't wrap my head around was that she had 'fallen' for him. The fact that she could fall for anyone was insane. My curiosity doubled, and even though I wasn't looking forward to seeing Raven again, I wanted to see the two of them together, so I could clarify this better.

"I think she wanted him to become part of the team at one point." Cyborg said thoughtfully. "But as she says, Jared is Jared, and he wouldn't give up his stealing, not even after we learnt his real name and saw his face. Its strange, because sometimes he acts like a hero, and then he does a complete 180, just to prove he can do what he wants. Robin told him to piss off, so he went away for a while, but of course he came back to stay. We don't wanna hurt Rae, so we don't press charges for all the shit he pulls. But then, one day she just came home and said she was moving out. Its still a sore spot, even though she's not living with him." he explained, while the others smiles faded a fraction.

If Raven was just a normal girl, this story might almost have made sense.

"And that's why you hate him so much." I said to Robin, who grimaced.

"Well, actually…" Beastboy started, trying to conceal his grin, and hide the shaky laugh that was threatening to escape. Robin gave him a warning look.

"Don't" He said dangerously. His voice sent a shiver down my spine. It reminded me of someone, but I couldn't quite place who. But Beastboy took no notice.

"Robin had a thing for Raven. He even kissed her. But then the paparazzi got pictures and it was everywhere, just as Raven picked Jared over him. So Robin was reminded of it everyday-"

"Shut up!" Robin ordered, his cheeks turning red.

My mind whirled with this strange information. Raven and Robin…? I had to mentally tally the years I had been gone. Two guys? Raven? Kissing? I had never even kissed anyone! And somehow I had always thought…in those times when I felt strange and pathetic for being so inexperienced when everyone around me was going so far…that at least I would get there before Raven. That, no matter how long _I _took, it wouldn't matter, because she would always be trailing behind in _that _particular department.

This felt stupidly personal. And Robins look of fury made me feel even more awkward.

"And then he went out with Raven's friend Lela, but she turned out to be a lesbian" He finished loudly, over top of Robin threatening him.

Through all of my disbelief and slight hurt, I stifled an incredulous giggle at Beastboy's last sentence. And at Robins face.

"So Robin blames everything bad that's ever happened on Jared." Cyborg summed up, amused.

"Damn right he does." Came a playful voice from behind. I jumped up off my seat. We all spun around, pulses racing, to see Jared and Raven, standing in front of the couch, apparently materializing out of thin air.

"I can't believe your still talking about this." Raven muttered, her eyes unusually light.

I couldn't help starring. Out of all the titans, Raven had clearly changed the most. Her bluntly cut purple hair had grown long, and she had it tied back in a ponytail that hung down to below her shoulder blades. She was an inch or so taller, still considered to be rather short, just a few centimeters shorted than I was. Her violet eyes were staring me down, despite their apparent playfulness at the current topic of conversation, and when I looked over her body quickly, I couldn't help but feel inadequate.

She looked amazing today. Not in her uniform like last night, but then it had been dark then. Civilian clothes suited her, even though I had always thought she would look ridiculous in them. She dressed only slightly goth, everything darkly colored, but instead of hiding herself under something baggy, she was wearing a tight sweater and jeans. Again I felt a sense of being cheated.

Raven smirked slightly, as she saw me look her over, eyes wide, and threaded her hand with Jared's.

"Jared's…class…was canceled. He had a free spot, so I thought it would be okay if he came." She addressed Robin, who nodded darkly.

"Fine. He was there last night, so he might be able to help." He admitted resentfully, going back to his newspaper purposely.

"Besides, I think you two need to bond." She added sarcastically.

Finally, there was a sign of the old Raven. I gulped inwardly. I knew her kind of trial week would be different from the others idea of a trial week.

* * *

Twelve reveiws, I'm a greedy bitch. FEED ME


	4. Last Straw

Poison's Ivy - I'm glad it was uh bashful. It was real hard to do in first person, and I only realized once I started and was like 'shit. How do I make this girl seem reasonable yet still have people hate her at the same time feel slightly sorry for her?' I hope I achieved it. He he Insulting is fun.

Blackangeldust. - Hells yeah my Terra is nicer. My one is just a misguided, slightly pathetic bitchy girl, your one is actually evil. Yet I love them both. While hating them of course. You know, that scene was _that _lusty. I men, you _know _what happened, but at least I didn't describe it ;)

I will go on your beta-reader thing, I'm not sure which story yet though.

Amylove15 - Maybe Robin next chappie. He's not been around much.

Alexander - Excatly! Terra is nessesary! We all need someone to hate. As for the plot, you will just have to wait and see while I sit in my comfy chair, knowing everything that will happen.

I hate swine flu. Your contry is probly hit worse than mine, we've only had two deaths, yet we've got like three hundred cases. People freak out when I sneeze.

Cinnamon-Sweet - Maybe Robin will get used to Jared....in five years or so. Terra is....interested in Jared, but not seriously.

XcrimsonroseX - Yes, beastboy thinks he hillarious.

d-a28b - You understood what I wanted people to understand! Yeah! Shes not that bad, but she is in a way...Its confusing, but I think it makes _some _sense.

Shadow - I know it wasn't 'short', but I kinda feel bad when its less than 4000 words. Weird.

Your analysis of terra is very good. She's fake and manipulative but doesn't realise it, or at least doesn't want to think about it. I have a feeling you'd be really pissed if Terra made a move for Jared. Everyone else seems to _want_ it to happen. *shrugs*

Sara - Thanks :)

The-random-Hitter - Wow, your devoted. I like that. If I were you I would have stopped at 8:00, pissed at all the times I changed my mind. Your reveiw makes my heart go all gooey with pride, and while it is a little creepy that you have a shrine, most of me is like 'awsome'. So heres another dose for your addicted side....

Dragonfriend7738 - I'm glad you mentioned the cloak-turning-white, I thought no one had noticed my moving and sympolic part of the chapter.

Angstar54 - Grandma's, I know what its like. Mines all religeous. Terra bashing is fun, and now we're back with Raven, I can do a whole lot more of it.

Ah, the title.

The thing you learn when you read all my fics, is that the title refers to everything. Even if I don't initially intend it that way, thats how it turns out and I have come to the conclusion that its what my subconscious wants. So yes, Terra was unnanounced. and when Jared and rae go to Oz, its going ot be announced. And after that, a whole lot of stuff will be unnanounced. In my story heady, everything is heady. In undiscovered, people discovered things that were previously undiscovered. In alone and lost, people are feeling alone and lost. In my new story Falter, stuff is faltering. Its a very tangled web.

As for the story, search _The edge of Taboo, _I forgot the author_._ Its Slaven, and even if you don't like that messed up shit normally, I suggest you read it. It has an unfinished, abandoned, amazing sequel, and if you look in the reveiws, you'll see my pathetic begging for it to continue.

* * *

_Raven Roth_

The 'bonding' didn't seem to be going so well, as Robin and Jared glared at each other from across the room, waiting for the other to make a wrong move, to put a toe out of line so they could have an excuse for a punch up. I sighed, yet in all truth, I never expected these meetings to turn out well, Terra was just a little added bonus on the side.

The way they treated her! The casual touches, the kind gentle smiles. Jealously flared up again, spitting and muttering, eyes filled with unshed tears of frustration. I pictured the emotion in my head, green eyes glistening like the wings of a beetle, never quite _enough_. For the world or herself. Myself. All because they were treating Terra like she was….me. No. The me I would have been if I had been allowed to grow up normally. Me if I wasn't still so afraid of physical or emotional contact. Me if I were able to accept hugs or pats on the back without flinching. I scrunched my fists up into tight balls and glared at her.

I hated her even more in the daytime. Her lank hair hung around her face, yet somehow, it was still perfect. An angel of a teenager, perfect skin, perfect eyes. Innocent. Her face was set in an awkward and endearing sort of smile that it seemed only Jared and I could see through. Humble. Caring. I knew Jared's apparent indifference was for me. It was an act that _I_ could see through, as I watched him try to figure out what was so bad about the thin girl. Trying to figure out how I could hate someone so repentant and eager to please. It was like Terra didn't even realize she was dark. Like she didn't even notice that she was evil.

I would never trust her again.

"What was it you wanted Robin?" I broke into the conversation Cyborg was having, mainly directed at Terra, my voice ice cold. As if my words had touched him, Cyborg gave a little shiver, and then gave me a _disappointed _look. I shot him a heavily sarcastic scowl.

What did he want from me? Did he want me to pretend everything was ok? That the fact that I finally had my life on track meant _nothing_ now that she was back, in my face, in my old house and in my team. If Beastboy hadn't kept her room warm for her all these years, I had no doubt she'd be sleeping in mine.

Robin took a moment to collect his thoughts, then rolled his shoulders, his concealed features betraying nothing. But underneath his calm exterior, I could sense something bubbling, seething, waiting to brake out. Our bond had lost some strength since I had left our home, but I could still feel how unsettled he was.

"When we captured Jinx," He started, suddenly frowning. I knew the fact that she and the others had escaped was irking him, since he had obviously not yet figured out how they were able to do it. I, on the other hand, was slightly pleased that Cyborg didn't have to intervene. I didn't want _him_ to have to turn to the dark side too. "She mumbled something about Slade."

Ah, so that was the reason Robin was in emotional turmoil. If Jinx was telling the truth, then Robins great obsession, one to overshadow even Jared, was back. My emotions shuddered uncomfortably. Slade was not good. Though he had helped us _last time_, like Jared when he was only Red-X to me, you never knew how he would act _next time_ you saw him.

"I'm not a titan anymore." I sighed. I couldn't keep coming back. Dealing with the criminals of this city, helping Robin with investigations, ending up at the tower every few days. It was wrecking me to be here now, and know it. This wasn't my job anymore, and the only way to separate myself was to go cold turkey, so I didn't feel the urge or responsibility to fix everything. I didn't owe this city any more of my time or service.

Robin straightened up.

"Yes, I aware of that Raven. But I needed to ask…" He glanced covertly at Terra, and my curiosity was raised. Terra saw this, and yet she didn't seem to have any idea what was going on. Like Robin hadn't meant for her to see. "Is there a possibility, uh, have you…had any…"

Robin looked at a loss for what to say, his words delicate and careful, and Jared curved around me more, almost protectively. He didn't trust the titans, or anything they said, especially Robin. He had the feeling everything they did was a ploy to get me back home. I couldn't stand his disappointed looks every time I came back here, like I was cheating on him.

"Well, any _dreams_ or uh…_prophesies.." _

At the word 'prophesy', my blood turned cold, and Jared was pushed from my mind. I knew what Robin wanted now. Information. About Scathe.

"About…uh" Robin shrugged, looking lost, a second before a bold and idiotic Beastboy let the word;

"Trigon" slip from his mouth casually.

Terra's head flicked around curiously at the foreign name as I felt my eyes glow red, though thankfully there were still only two, and I couldn't yet feel the pain of them about to split. White hot fury coursed through my veins, and my emotions suddenly spiked, each screaming incoherently in my head at the same time. I couldn't focus. How dare he! He had no right to even bring my father up, let alone in front of _her._

If she had this information on me, what could she do with it? Anything! She could bring it up at any moment! She would know intimate things about me. Things I hadn't even wanted my _friends_ to know.

Cyborg smacked his own forehead, before smacking Beastboy, hard, and Robin shook his head, his attempts at doing this covertly thwarted.

"What?" Terra demanded. It was all I could do to keep myself from ripping her head off. I felt Jared reach for my cold hand and give a reassuring squeeze. I knew he was fighting with himself, over whether to go over and beat up Beastboy or stay here, though his internal struggle was not to be compared with mine. No matter how lovely Jared was, at this point in time nothing would calm me down.

"_Nothing gives you that right!" _I hissed, inwardly battling with myself. Half of me wanted to move, and the other half knew to stop bloodshed we had to stay right where we were. To mine and everyone's immense surprise, Beastboy barley flinched, just looked slightly uncomfortable. This pissed me off more. I was used to squeals and begging.

With a frustrated growl I lunged across the room. In a second I had the irritating green changeling up against the wall, pinned by the throat. I could feel his blood pumping furiously under the skin of his throat, through large, thick arteries.

"She has a right to know! She's part of the team!" Beastboy managed to choke out, before I was dragged off by Robin and Cyborg, each grabbing hold of one of my arms. In a second of clarity and inner strength, I let them take me back over to Jared, still half blinded in fury, my expression resentful and dissatisfied, wishing I could go home. To my bed with Jared. Where it was peaceful. To Terra's credit she stayed silent.

"Lets not fight friends." Starfire tried nervously, but my retaliating snarl shut her up. A part of me felt sorry. But of course that part was silenced quickly.

"_Why?!_" I growled at Robin, trying not to look at Beastboy, who was rubbing his throat next to wide-eyed Terra.

"We need to know if you saw something, or dreamt something, I don't know! If it has to do with Slade, we need to make sure Trigon is still…gone." he said defensively, soothingly, though neither him nor Cyborg was letting me go. Jared placed a hand to my cheek, trying to get me to focus on him. I looked at him, to see he was frowning, eyes cloudy. I knew he was angry too.

"Just wait a few minutes, till you calm down, and then you can do whatever you want to the little freak alright?" He asked. I took a shuddering breath and nodded, feeling the boys grips on me loosen, as they tested my control.

"What is it?" Terra finally said meekly. Before I could kill him, Beastboy started talking, and wouldn't stop. The grips tightened again.

"Trigon is Ravens dad" he started, with disregard for his life. Terra looked shocked, probably at the fact that I was born, not conjured. I struggled against the arms that held me, now joined by Jared holding me around the waist. If I really wanted to kill someone, I could have gotten away, but of course there were a few pesky emotions that were shutting down my powers.

"He's one of the most powerful demons, so Ravens only half human. Slade was working with him to end the world, Raven was the portal. But we shut him down. Everything's okay now" he shrugged.

What was wrong with him!?

Terra's face was painted with disbelief, but then she glanced at me, saw my expression, and comprehension dawned on her features. I imagined many things were falling into place in her head. My powers, The way I behaved sometimes and of course the way I was behaving now.

"Beastboy shut up!" Cyborg exclaimed, clearly thinking along the lines of everyone else. That Beastboy had gone insane. "First you mouth off about Robin and Jared, and now your telling everyone about Rae! What's wrong with you!?"

"Nothings wrong with me!" Beastboy yelled back defensively, fists scrunched up. "Terra's a part of the team again and she needs to know the situation!"

"What situation?!" Robin demanded. "we said she was on a trial run! Now, Terra didn't ask for this information, and you didn't ask permission to tell her even if she did."

"If I'd have asked, you would have said no!" Beastboy complained.

"Exactly!" I hissed angrily.

"Your not on the team anymore, you don't have a say!" Beastboy retaliated.

"If you don't fuck up right now I'll do it for you." Jared growled threateningly. His voice was so serious I, and all the rest of us, believed him.

The fact that I had a man that could stick up for me calmed me down. I stopped struggling. Now was not the time for being unfocused. Now was the time for action.

"Let me go." I said quietly.

"Are you calm?" Cyborg asked nervously. I nodded, eyes trained on Terra. Reluctantly he let me go.

I took a few steps towards them, trying to ignore the fact everyone was watching me carefully, waiting for me to snap.

"Keep your mouth shut in future. Especially around _her" _I inclined my head at Terra, aiming my dangerous glare at Beastboy. His green eyes narrowed.

"Your such a hypocrite" He muttered under his breath, though everyone heard.

"Oh? How so?" I asked sarcastically. Beastboy looked at Jared.

"Him. You can tell him everything about us, but I can't tell Terra anything without you going insane and demonic on us."

"What did I just say?" Jared asked dangerously, unconsciously rolling his shoulders, probably thinking about how good it would feel to punch someone right now. I kept my head cool, reminding myself that I could leave anytime I wanted. I wasn't trapped here anymore.

"Jared never tried to kill us all. That's a pretty big difference Beastboy." I spat. I flicked around. "No Robin. There are no more prophesies. Trigon is where he belongs, probably fantasizing about our painful deaths. So if there isn't anything else, we'll be going now."

Robin shook his head awkwardly, Starfire standing next to him with wide, terrified eyes. In a way this was what she had feared most about me leaving. All of us drifting apart. I had said it wouldn't happen, but then I hadn't counted on Beastboy becoming a different person.

Terra's return had changed him. She had sucked him in again.

Jared grabbed me around the waist, glaring at the titans as if they were going to try and stop us leaving.

"Fuckers." he muttered under his breath. I secretly agreed.

"My house?" I asked, ignoring the others.

"Sure angel, whatever you want." He teleported us back to my tiny apartment, and the moment I the tower melted away around me and turned into my room, complete with sink, I felt immediately comforted.

"I'm not even going to start." I sighed, turning around. Jared hugged me from behind, putting his face in my hair.

"You can talk about it. Or, if you want I can go get us some revenge." he murmured hopefully.

"Beastboy doesn't have a cove for you to dump petrol in" I muttered, half considering the idea. I felt Jared smile.

"Yeah, that was fun."

"I wish they would just leave me alone."

I wish they would let me be their friend without dragging me into hero business. Didn't they see I didn't want it anymore!? How many more clues did they need?

Jared let me go, frowning. I sighed, bringing a hand to my head, at a loss for what to do now, pacing small slow steps around the limited floor space of my room.

I needed to get Terra and Beastboy off my mind. And I knew how. I would just have to meditate for a couple of hours.

_Exciting._ Desire muttered resentfully.

Suddenly Jared's face lit up with his signature grin. He dug into his pocket hastily, while I stopped moving, confused. Finally he took out a small book, and chucked it to me. I barely caught it with the tips of my fingers.

"Wha-?"

"Lets go now." Jared said firmly, grabbing my elbows and steering me towards the bed. The back of my knees hit it and I half-fell, half sat down on the soft mattress. I was holding his passport in my hands. Opening it, I saw a fairly recent photo of Jared, except he still had blue streaks in his hair. For some reason his face was drawn into a sad, almost-smile.

Australia. Miles and miles away from any heroes or villains we knew, where it would be easy to blend in and play pretend. Just a cutely punk young backpacking couple, among a hundred others, where Terra and Robin couldn't get to me. Alone with Jared, helping each other through issues, being together, seeing sights, experiencing life together. No need to lie. We could do whatever we wanted. For Azar knows how long.

I looked up at him, eyes wide, mind racing.

"Okay." I said, scrambling for my draw that held all my important documents. "Lets go now." I agreed breathlessly.

The idea sounded like a fantasy. A romantic novel. A wonder of the world. It seemed like a fairy tale that I could have.

I saw Jared grin at my spontaneity. Maybe he had expected to need to convince me more. I pulled the draw open, and found my stack of legal papers. It had taken years to attain them all, coupled with tense negotiations and threats to and from the government. In the end, they had to award me my citizenship and passport, so I would stay in the country to help lower _their _crime rates. Illegal alien didn't exactly have a heroic ring to it.

I flipped it open and found the date, seeing it was still able to be used, a second before Jared snatched it out of my hands. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat at my photo, taken at least two years ago. He glanced at my amused face, and then at the photo, before handing it back to me, open at my photo. I looked down, to see myself glaring back, hair bluntly cut to the chin, eyes narrow and hard.

"You look happier now." He commented, his grin never cracking. I rolled my eyes, and started to mentally pack my bag. I wouldn't need much, we could be at the airport in a couple of hours.

The thought made me giddy with excitement. Like I was walking on air.

"Are you packed?" I asked quickly, going through my stack of papers to look for any other necessary items.

"I've been packed for four years Sunshine. But we gotta tell Ana we're going, or she'll panic and call the police, and that is _not _what I need right now."

I considered this. Waiting a moment. It seemed smart. Some of this adrenaline could be messing with my usual thought patterns.

"Okay." I nodded, still surprised we were actually doing this. Leaving America. Jared suddenly reached out and grabbed my arm, crushing me into his chest. I stood there, shocked but pleased.

"What are you doing?" I asked his neck, as his arms came around and held me to him. Jared kissed the top of my head lovingly. I noted he smelled like motor oil. He must have been working on his bike.

"I've been waiting so long to do this, and I'm glad its with you." He muttered into my hair. My insides melted, the way they always did when I remembered he loved me. The fact he wanted me with him for something so important cemented it further in my mind, like it was burned there. I looked up at his gray eyes, to see them the lightest shade I had ever remembered seeing.

"I love you." I whispered. The words carried weight, and that was what made it so hard to say usually. But when it was quiet, and we were alone, they always seemed to slip off the tongue.

Jared squeezed me harder.

"I love you too sunshine" he muttered back. "lets get going." He sighed after a few minutes of standing there, some of the urgent desire to get going waning. But not enough to take either of our minds off leaving this city and country for a second.

Even the very idea of stepping on that plane was exhilarating and made my emotions become docile and co-operative, pushing me along instead of dragging me back.

I nodded, and stepped over to my wardrobe, ready to pack in about ten minutes.

"Can you get the duffel bag out from under my bed?" I asked Jared hurriedly, concentrating hard. I felt like any moment there could be an emergency that would stop us. "What's the temperature in Australia like at the moment?" I asked, a small amount of concern starting to seep into my voice. If I felt exposed in jeans and a sweater, how would I feel in shorts and a tank top?

"30 degrees Celsius last time I checked." he replied, dropping to his knees and looking under the bed.

I frowned, and grabbed the only pair of shorts I owned. These were strictly for working out. Not for wearing around. The jeans I was wearing would be fine. I didn't need much else than the clothes on my back and my wallet.

Thank god I had been smart. I had spent money on food, rent and a gym membership, and everything else I put in my wallet. There was at least a thousand dollars in there, not that it would last long.

"I'll help" Jared offered, coming up behind me.

"You won't know what to pack." I pointed out. I heard the squeaky sound of a drawer opening behind me.

"Oh, I'll know." He replied playfully. I turned around to see him, sifting through my underwear draw. "Defiantly." He said, holding up a flimsy, impractical lacy blue bra, before flinging onto my bed, where I had thrown the other items needing to be packed.

This got me thinking about the other aspects of our little trip.

"Freak." I muttered after a second, finally pulling out the gym clothes from the back of my wardrobe, as it looked like that would be all I was wearing.

"I_ am_ a man." He shot back, coming up behind me again, wrapping his arms around my waist, spreading his hands across my stomach.

"Yes well, as you said, we should get going."

"No fair." He mumbled playfully, as he started stuffing things into the duffle bag. I watched him, feeling immense relief and excitement. Something was over, and in turn, something else was beginning.

* * *

Finally this shows on the road. Don't worry, the titans won't compleatly dissapear.

And please, if you have time, check out my new fic _Falter_. Its crossover. Funness. Dragonfriend7738 gave me the idea, after reading my crazy profile rantings of how much I hate twilight. I have a feeling not many people will find it, so if you read and reveiw it would be _much _appreciated. Its Jasper/Raven. Are you curious yet?


	5. Goodbye

I'm not actually dead! Just busy and taking care of shit.

Shadow - Wow, that reveiw was very very very legnthy. Just the way I like it.

Your rigth, Slades the villian that doesn't die. I mean, he got shoved into a goddam volcano, and he stil lbounces back.

Havn't read the comics. Have read the bios. In fact, I bareley even watched the tv show. Its the back storys that I like to work off. Without wikapedia, my sotrys wouldn't exist. Feel free to ask me any questions you like.

Beastboy told Terra because he wants her in the midst of the team as soon as possible, whereas he thinks Raven needs to be punished for leaving, if only unconsciously. It was a split desision. Terra or Raven. Slightly idiotic in his eyes, deavastating in Ravens.

Jared hasn't been literally packed for four years. What he means is that he has a bag and all his legal documents and a few essentials thrown under his bed, and is completly mentally prepared.

Sorry that this chapter wont be big and deep, but I needed to give you guys something before you gave up on me and my story.

Blackangeldust - I hate your beastboy more. Lol. Mine isn't trying to get with raven. That gives him alot of browny points with me. yes jared only has sex on his mind. This chapter will emphasize.

Ew, I would never put alice and edward together, that would be wrong and disturbed.

Kuyeng13-TheHeartLogos - Spelling is hard, I gave up a long time ago.

C'mmmmoooooonnnnn. Read my twilight story. Please? I'm making a really adorable face right now. Do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it.

Poison's Ivy - Beastboy is an asswhole. full stop. No reason, just is.

Everyone should be afraid of my summarys. there suggestivly worrying.

Analia - Oh no, stay healthy now. At least you get to be off school. Good of your teacher to send you homework. very considerate....

Yes, the story will go get _sexual._

I have a feeling you'll like it.

Cranelee - Everyone loves a good looking weirdo.

The random hitter- lol, astulia. I think thats an improved spelling. I slightly modified your thought and included it, see if you can spot it.

Angstar54 - Kill them both. And then resurect them, so they can be re-killed.

dragonfriend - thanks.

Jared wanted to kick beastboys ass, but decided raven might actually kill beastboy if she were allowed to help. theres a conscience somewhere in that boy.

Rien lin - Falter kindoff took over my time for a bit but I'm back.

d-a28b - Hehe, no one can assume my next move. I'm like a spider.

Cinnamon-Sweet - exactly, its not really going to stay vacation like. Beastboy is only just realizing what he did wrong. the titans will make him sorry.

gwacie21 - I'll try not to leave the titans out, give them a storyline or something. I love cyborg too, and would miss him too much to forget about him.

alexander - Sorry, I'm becoming old and slowing down. oh how I miss summer. Barbeques....surfing....volleyball....light outside until eight. I think I'm going to cry. I'll try to hold it in,

Robins not dead, just in the background. He'll be pretty pissed in the next chapter, so that should be fun.

* * *

_Raven Roth_

We drove as fast as we could through town, headed for Ana. We had a plan. Get in and get out. Tell Ana we were going, listen to her exclaim in happiness for a few minutes, say goodbye to the kids, and get to the airport and on the next flight to Brisbane.

My packed duffel bag was resting on my back, as I held onto Jared's waist. The grin was stuck permanently on his mouth, and I doubted it would be disappearing any time soon. He was even more excited than I was. Not telling the titans felt liberating, breaking the rules always seemed to give me a thrill nowadays. Still, my communicator was in my bag just in case. I would never be as irresponsible to leave it behind. Jared would. In fact, Jared had tried.

He cut off the engine outside the apartment block, and I had to jump off straight away as the bike started to tip over. Laughing, Jared grabbed my hand and practically pulled me up the narrow stairs up onto his floor. I let myself laugh with him, feeling unbelievably light and airy. Nothing could go wrong. For now.

Jared shook the dark hair out of his eyes and knocked on the door, three times, hard. We only had to wait a few seconds before Ana's beautiful face appeared eyes widening as she took in our smiling faces. Jared's arm was around my waist and I was leaning into him as far as I could. It was unusual for me to be responding to him so eagerly, so early in the day.

"Vat is it?" She asked in surprise, her mouth slowly turning up into a smile. As long as Jared was happy, she didn't really care for the reason.

"We're finally going Ana!" Jared exclaimed, breaking away from me to hug her tightly. He was half a head taller than her and if it were me, I would have been lifted off my feet.

"Going?" She asked blankly as he pulled away.

"Australia!"

Comprehension dawned on her face and she clapped her hands together, looking at us both joyfully, her eyes soft.

"This is Vunderful!" She cried, hugging me. In times before this I had frozen up, but now I hugged her back easily, surprised at my progress.

If possible, Jared's grin became more pronounced.

"It is." I agreed with her. In the gap between the ajar door and its frame, I could see the twins peeking over the couch, faces confused and excited at the noise.

I slipped past Ana into the room, and Immediately they had both launched into my arms, dark curls flying everywhere.

"Waven!" Renata cried, while Oly smiled wide. He had a baby tooth missing, something Renata, usually the leader in everything, was upset about.

"Hello." I cooed. Funny how children could brake through my defenses so easily, even when I had been unhappy and darker. Maybe it was because they told the truth, maybe because they were so defenseless themselves, having little to no control over what happened to them, much like myself.

_They are lovely. _Joy sighed wistfully in my head.

_I want one. _Desire stated forcefully, before being silenced by logic.

_You know that's impossible so it would be best for you to shut up. _

I shook my head and balanced either child on a hip each, glad that they didn't squirm so much anymore. It was so strange how much children grew in a short space of time. Their bodies were slightly longer and slimmer, hair cut a little shorted, so it puffed out to Renatas chin before stopping suddenly.

"Where are you going'?" She asked innocently, in the way only a child could. I looked at them for a while, trying to figure out the best way to word it while Ana and Jared watched from the doorway. It seemed this was to be my job.

I glanced at Jared, who was smiling encouragingly. Thief _and_ life coach, that was him.

"We're going on holiday for a while."

Almost instantly Oly's face fell and his bottom lip trembled. Renata looked confused.

"Whhhyyyy?" She asked, eyebrows coming together.

"uh, Because we need a break." I tried carefully. Her eyes became wide and tearful.

"But we'll bring you back a present." I remedied. There faces became placid again, and with convenient timing Jared appeared and took Oly from me.

"We gotta be going okay?" He said, giving him a quick hug and passing him off to his mother. He then did the same with Renata. "We'll be back in a few weeks with lots and lots of presents."

I checked the wall clock and found we only had half an hour to be at the airport. Jared had called ahead and asked when the next flight was, and they were holding tickets for us.

"We have to go." I prodded him gently and he nodded, suddenly businesslike.

"Your right. Okay, good bye!" he waved to the twins, who were now back on the couch. Oly turned around to wave, and Renata just went back to watching playhouse Disney.

Ana walked us to the door.

"I am zo glad you are doing this." She said enthusiastically.

"So are we." Jared said as he walked out into the hall. "I'll be back in a minute, I'll just get my bag." He told me, unlocking his door. He disappeared from sight and I felt Ana grab my arm so I couldn't follow. I spun around to find her face soft and sincere.

"I could not be happier zat he has found someone like you Raven." she said quietly, so that Jared would not be able to hear, even with the open door. I smiled slightly, and my heart warmed a fraction. People we always telling me we were wrong for each other. Even Starfire had never said that she thought we belonged with each other. It was always, 'I'm glad your happy', if anything at all.

"He would have gone on his own eventually" I shrugged. Ana shook her head, curls bouncing slightly.

"No, I'm not zure he would av." she said sadly. "I worry about 'im a lot. He thinks very deeply, and zat is vat most people do not see about im."

_You have no idea._ I thought. Red-X was all the team saw, and it was so good to get away from that, for both of us.

"People don't know 'is past. I know 'e 'asn't told even me everyting."

In that moment, when her eyes met mine, I felt like she at least _suspected_ everything that was going on. That she knew Jared had some other, shady interests that he was protecting her from. That thought was scary. I nodded, trying to convey nothing, keeping my eyes locked with hers. But I guessed If she hadn't said anything up until now, she wasn't going to anytime soon. She would never betray Jared, that I understood and appreciated.

"But it took 'im a long time to tell me vat 'e 'as. So people don't even suspect vat 'e 'as gone through. Zey don't know vat 'e is capable of. Zey misinterpret vat 'e means, and zey don't understand vy 'e acts ze vay 'e does. "

That was right. Dead on. Jared was honest. Jared was warm. Jared was angry.

Those three things explained almost everything he did.

"Yes. My friends….didn't see eye to eye with him. They didn't really understand why he was with me, and why I was with him." I replied, feeling that I could trust her as well. Our bond was nowhere near as strong as the one she had with Jared, but it was growing. I wanted that to continue.

Her face fell into sympathy and concern.

"Jared told me zat you had to quit your job."

I nodded, wondering _exactly _what Jared had told her. Then Ana looked at me.

"You look very young to 'ave vorked in ze government." She added, eyes becoming confused for a second.

"Youth department." I answered hastily and she nodded, as Jared appeared behind me with a small suitcase in tow, jacket flung over his arm, locking up his apartment.

"Ready?" He asked me breathlessly, when I turned around.

_Ready._

"Ready." I confirmed, taking his hand with my own.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The airplane smelt like stale oxygen already, and we hadn't even left the ground yet. I got the aisle seat, after I had swapped Jared for it.

I didn't like seeing the clouds and the world below when in an plane. I felt out of control. Usually when I was looking down upon the earth, I was half in a medative trance. It seemed peaceful and safe, not like now. Any number of things could go wrong. It made me uneasy.

"What the fuck?" Jared exclaimed as he unsuccessfully tried again to do his belt up around his waist. I twisted my hair up behind my head and looked at his frustrated face. If I was still an emotionless shell, I still might have cracked a smile.

"It really not that hard." I told him, amused.

He could steal insanely well protected combat suits from Robin but couldn't work out a seatbelt. Lift, push, click and release, it wasn't that hard.

"This thing is insane" he complained, giving up. He looked at me with big, gray, pleading eyes, his bangs falling over them and framing his face. Cute, but not cute enough.

"I'm not going to do it up for you." I snorted, leaning back, enjoying myself. Any minute now this plane was going to take off. I would be free. I couldn't fully relax as of yet, a tight band of nerves across my stomach that would remain there until I had as much distance between myself and my friends.

A long time ago I had wanted to get away from my friends, but it had been for different reasons. To protect the world, while this time it was for myself. still, it was sad that I wanted it in the first place.

"Do you need any help?" A sugary sweet voice asked from above my head. I flicked my eyes up to see a brunette flight attendant with a shirt that had two buttons less than all her co-workers. Underneath you could see the line where she had rolled the waistband of her skirt, so it was an inch or so shorter than needed. Her skin was covered in uneeded foundation, as it was very clear and perfect in the parts she had missed, a shade lighter than what she had put on. I raised my eyebrows.

"uh…"

"It is my _job_." She said suggestively. How she came up with that line would be anyone's guess. I stared at her, considering the fact she might just be genuinely stupid, instead of bold and sluty. It was not my place to judge people.

"uh…"

It seemed to be all Jared could say as she took a pin out of her hair in slow motion, shaking it out and smiling, flicking it over her shoulder, aparently unconsciously.

"That's much better."

My mouth went slack as she leaned all the way over me as if I weren't there, practically shoving her chest in Jared's face while her hands ended up somewhere in his crotch area. My emotions sturred awake.

Now I was getting pissed.

"Now what you gotta do is position it right at the entrance, right at the opening. Then once you got it, you gotta just shove it in there. _Hard_, or it won't click." She said seductively, her voice light and breathy.

A little bit of pity woke inside of me. Stupid bimbo. She was going to be embarrassed about this later. The way she was acting was like an embodyment of the emotions lust and instinct. The way I would never behave. I would die first.

I turned my head very carefully, to look at Jared. I heard the people in the adjacent row trying to stifle laughter.

Jared was _looking,_ both eyes wide as he actually stared straight down that _bitches _shirt. Jealousy ripped any pity to shreds. She was a vicious emotion, and only rage was fiercer.

"See? Now its in nice and _tight. _You got that, or do you need me to demonstrate it again?" She asked, clearly hoping he said yes.

_Whore._

"Excuse me." I broke in, trying my best not to snarl at her. I kept my hands in my lap, holding my feelings in. Jared jumped slightly, having forgotten I was there. I distinctly heard him mutter.

"_shit_"

The woman put her sugary, toothy rotting smile back on and straightened up.

"Yes honey?"

_Skank!_

"_What are you doing?_" I asked delicately, lacing my fingers together to hold them in place. They were just itching to be put around her uneven-make-upped neck. Her smile got wider, and her eyes more malicious.

"I'm just helping your brother, do you need me to get you something?"

I breathed in and then unlaced my hands. The next row watched with anticipation. I would _not_ give them a show.

"No, thank you for asking." I replied as evenly as I could. She nodded and was about to turn away. "But he's not my brother." I added. I didn't look at him. I couldn't see his face right now.

_Bastard._

The woman's eyes narrowed and then her face became stuck again.

"If you need me," She told Jared, clearly pretending I hadn't said anything, and wasn't there. "I'll be by the _bathroom_."

The bathroom. Probably the most infamous part of a plane.

She walked off, with a little flirty wave, moving her hips much more than necessary.

This was followed by a thick silence. My emotions felt like screaming in rage.

"Fuck it." I allowed them, sighing. The sound of the planes engines heating up for take off reached us, and the people in the other aisle were quickly silenced by a sharp disgusted look.

"_Flight attendants to their seats._" The pilot called over the intercom, and the roaring got louder as the plane rolled away from the extended door.

"What was that?" I asked emotionlessly. My safety net, there if I ever should need it. I still didn't look at Jared.

"That? Nothing." Jared answered, without a trace of shame. I hissed and finally made myself turn my head.

He was looking back at me, his eyes a little remorseful, but other than that, he didn't seem that bothered. He ran a hand through his ruffled hair and looked back at me.

"You were staring." I stated blandly. He looked around awkwardly as the plane sped up. It was hard to hear anything said over the roar.

"I am a man." He smiled ryly. Jelousy snarled in my head.

"So?" I asked with narrowed eyes. I wanted an explanation. I wasn't a jelous person. Other people had things I didn't all the time, and I didn't hate them for it. This time though, that woman had nothing I wanted.

"So?" He repeated.

I knew it was foolish for me to want him to never see anyone else. To only see me.

The thought didn't stop the hurt.

"Don't worry about it." I sighed, turning my head to stare out the opposite window. My cold hand was covered with Jareds warm one.

"I'm sorry, it was just hard to ignore." He said loudly, over the scream of the engines as the plane tilted diagonally as it took off. The people who had laughed on the other row were now clutching their arm rests with pale faces.

I looked at him, to see his face amused.

"You didn't have to take it." I shot back, feeling slightly vindicated. The hurt was leaving, yet it was still there. He was _mine._ People should see that. They should recognise that! Everyone should recognise, from the titans, to complete strangers.

"I'd much rather have taken it from you." He said softly, and I only barley caught it over the sound.

I still wanted to stab that woman in the heart, but at least I didn't want to feast on the remains.

Maybe this would not be the _amazing _break I had wished for. Maybe this, like all of my life, would turn out to be infinitly more complicated. I shouldn't hope for so much. I should keep things in perspective.

Jared kissed my hand as the plane levelled in the air.

"Whatever." I sighed, relinquishing anger and turning away from jelousy. Jared grinned at my surrender. The seatbelt sign dinged off and their was a releived release of air from the next row.

"If you'd like to talk about it," Jared said in a low voice. "I'll be in the _bathroom_"

I raised an eyebrow as he stood up.

* * *

yes. I'll try to be quicker next time. But I want to know which you guys would prefer. I have a few storys on the go. Would you rather I focus on one and finish it before going onto the others, or do a few chapters on one story, and then a few on another?

Please reveiw with your opinions.


	6. Past, Present

**_Sorry I took so long, but I had a huge chapter to write for Falter, and my fingers are killing me. There is a new character introduced at the end, so look out. She is tres important._**

**_Something else that is important. I have a Beta-reader!!! A loyal reveiwer and internet friend, Dragonfriend7738_**

**_I dare you to find a spelling mistake. I dare you._**

d-a28b - Its not really a good start no, but if there relationship was perfect, we would have no fun. Now I feel bad. I have neglected this story, and I will try to give it some tlc.

Fallfromreality - Your not alone in wondering if Jared and raven are perfect together, but thats the charm in it for me. Couples that never fight are boring and everyone ends up hating them.

Alexander - You and your dirty mind. All though, it is my fault. You _know_ what happens in the bathroom. You _know._ I _know_ you wern't joking, but thats okay, as you say, you are a man. WHich is also Jareds excuse.

Dragonfriend - Well, you have already read this chapter, I would just like to say thanks again!

Amylove14 - Its good that you read all my stories, that way you know i'm not dead, just lazy.

Shadow - Jared probably should have tried harder to get the communicator, its set up to ring isn't it? Well, not in this chapter.

Desire ays what she wants, thats the point. Would you be upset if there were children?

Lol, Jared told Ana she works for the government because thats where they get their technoligy and such from.

And finally, Jared is insane. And I think you _know_ what he thinks

gwacie21 - Sorry, but I think this one needed some updating, before it died. Mainly my focus will be on _falter_

Kuyeng13 - Lol, It was supposed to be funny, but maybe because I'm the twisted one. Oh no, your reveiw was like a challenge to me. Now you said you will definatly not read my other story, I'm very upset. *sigh* now I'm going to have to make you somehow.

BlackangelDust - I _thought_ this -having three storys- thing would work out okay for me, but I simply cannot keep up. Oh well, I'll have to keep trying.

Rien Lin - I love that it caused such a passionate response from you. If you love them so much, maybe you should read my other two, very neglected storys. After I finish _Falter _and _unannounced_, _Heady_ is next on the list.

Cinnamon sweet - The flight attendant will get hers. Raven will always get her way, in the end.

Nyoko - Not impossible, just hard.

**_

* * *

_**

_Jared Wilson _

_Shit, Jared. What did you have to do that for?_ I asked myself, walking up the narrow airplane aisle, headed for the toilets. I didn't check to see if Raven was behind me. Something about that would undo the confident and unapologetic aura I had been trying to give off. Even though our last words, or at least my last words, had been playful, that look on her face....

_But the girl was hot,_ I reasoned with myself, sliding open the door. The faint engine sound became louder in here. _She was good-looking and I am a man, and_ _I didn't do anything with her, so I have nothing to feel guilty about_. Still, my blood chilled when I remembered Raven could probably read minds.

The toilet cubicle was small, and grey.

I didn't want to have to limit or cripple my male mentality for her. I loved that girl, but she couldn't change me. I thought it was just a high-school girl thing, women being controlling of your every move. When you would get slapped for looking at the cheerleaders.

Ravens pale hand caught the door before it slipped shut and she squeezed into the large cubicle with me.

She looked up, violet eyes questioning my motives. She looked...sexy, standing in front of me, figure curvy yet slight, lips full and wet.

I would be lying if I told myself I didn't know what I wanted

"You wanted to," She raised an eyebrow almost sarcastically. "Talk?" She settled on, before moving around me to lean against the sink.

I smirked.

"Well, not with words." I replied, judging her mood to be stable enough, wrapping my hands around her waist and pressing her soft body to mine. She was always so cold...

"No," she said softly, suddenly very serous. Her voice was on the verge of being dangerous. I paused, my face inches from her.

"What?"

"No."

I kissed her passionately before she could say anything more, tasting her, but instead of fighting like I wanted, she became rigid, still. I pulled away, frustrated at the response. Her once emotive eyes had become blank. Her face held no expression. Like a doll.

"I should go." She said in monotone, eyes flicking to the door once. I moved my hands to rest on her upper arms, gripping her so she couldn't escape. It was like holding an ice block.

"No, don't do this to me sunshine. Yell, scream, cry, hit me, just don't do this."

"Do what?" She asked; her voice clipped with irritation. I could handle that; I liked the sting of her words. I could handle her anger but not her silence. Usually with women it was the other way around. Raven always went silent when she was unhappy. The kind of unhappy where she liked to pretend she didn't exist as a person anymore.

"Shut down on me." I replied, stroking her long, glossy hair and resting my hand on her cheek. "Pretend you can't feel again. I hate it."

"Well I am _Raven_." She shot back, mimicking my justification and seemingly, my thoughts. Her eyes were narrowed and not focused on me. They were hovering somewhere over by the door.

"Raven can feel. She feels a lot."

"Raven feels pissed right now." She growled. She was holding her jaw strong. Trying to keep something back.

"And hurt." I sighed. I couldn't pretend to be the strong man who wouldn't apologize. Raven was delicate, not to be toyed with. Playing the normal games was a rookie mistake. It has to be at face value, or nothing at all. "I'm sorry. She just snuck up on me."

This part was true. One minute I was trying to work out my seatbelt, the next I had a pair of tits in my face.

"You obviously weren't complaining" She hissed, hands suddenly pushing me away. She had gotten very strong, and I let go of her, my body protesting at the separation, the sudden emptiness in my arms. I tried to stay calm myself.

I couldn't think how to explain this to her. Not in a way that would make her see my point of view. All the excuses that made sense in my head, didn't work out loud. Not because they were stupid or pathetic, but because Raven herself _would not understand. _

"You looked at Robin an awful lot when we were first together." I retorted finally, settling on that. "How is this different, bar my offence being much less serious?"

Her mouth dropped open, but only slightly. Now I felt bad.

"The difference was I was trying to figure myself out, and I never did anything leaning over you, acting like you didn't exist." She said coldly, folding her arms tight across her chest. "Why do you have to keep bringing him up anyway? You won Jared. I am on the plane with you right now and he is in Jump city. Its over "

"I never asked for her to come over!" I replied in frustration. "And I could have mentioned Aqualad too, but I didn't. All I want is to make love to you and get to goddamned Australia. Its all I've wanted for the last fucking year." I said harshly, each and every word honest. It was what I thought about every day, morning and night. Being as close to my sunshine as possible, and planning how meeting my brother would go.

My angel's eyes softened, and she uncrossed her arms and let them hang at her sides. Maybe desperation was what she could understand with me. It was a connection we often made. Desperation for freedom, desperation for family, desperation for each other...

"You never really told me much about your life before your parents died. Or your plans for your brother."

"That won't help." I said. I didn't want to talk about it.

"It will help me," She countered calmly. Now I was pissed. She seemed to have sudden clarity and I had no clue.

"How?" I asked tensely, trying not to get angry at _her_ since I was angry at the world_._ "How will it help you? It won't make us any closer to Ben."

"Your right. But it will help make me closer to you." She whispered, coming closer to me, burying her head in my neck. Unconsciously I wrapped my arms around her, anger fading into nothing. Feeling sunshine's warm breath on my skin calmed me like nothing else in this life. She was my lifeline.

Raven really wanted to understand. Maybe she was the only one that could. Our tragic pasts were disfigured in completely different ways, yet still, they were both disfigured. Ugly, mutilated things, that seemed to stretch back for miles, wanting to catch up.

Maybe sharing mine with her fully, the way she had shared hers with me, I could fill in some missing links between us. We weren't even close to teetering on the edge of a breakdown, but even an inch closer to that edge scared me beyond belief.

"We have a long flight ahead of us." I said into her hair. "When we get back to our seats I'll tell you the whole mess."

"When we get back to our seats." She agreed, lifting her head so she had to height to wrap her lips around my bottom one. I closed my top lip, catching her.

It's been a beautiful trip so far.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Raven Roth_

Taking my seat again was easy. I knew that... slut had seen me come back with Jared, and though it was wrong, I felt a certain sense of victory. It was probably a territorial, demon thing. Or maybe it was just a female thing.

Most likely female.

Jared didn't bother to try and buckle his belt this time. His hair was messed up again, from me. He smiled; I smiled back, knowing my face was a little flushed.

"Are you going to tell me now?" I asked quietly. A airplane full of curious passengers who were already interested in us wasn't the best place to talk, but as I had said back in the toilets, he knew more about me than I knew about him, and that was in no way fair. I was going to learn about his childhood. No passengers would get in my way.

His smile disappeared a little, and he ran a hand through his hair without thinking. There was no space between us now, and my hand was entwined in his other across the armrest.

"What do you want to know?" He asked finally. I shrugged.

"Just tell me something...something about your past."

He snorted at how vague I was.

"I've told you all about mine." I reminded him. He knew me better than anyone. More than Robin even, but that was how it should be. Robin, after all, was only my best friend.

"No, only a brief overview of_ some_ things that happened. You haven't told me about...that temple you grew up in, or that Malchior guy your idiot friend keeps going on about."

My stomach flipped at the mention of the lizard's name. I took a deep breath. I had never expected that word to leave Jared's lips. I was accustomed to hearing it on Beast Boy's.

"What exactly do you want to know?" I threw his own question back at him, the only problem was; he had an answer.

"Were did you grow up?" he shot back in a second, followed by a wonderful smile.

"Azarath." I said back. He already knew this...

"Where exactly?"

"The temple..."

"Where in the temple?" he probed. I sighed.

"The third... floor." I pictured my room in my head, with the big window so I could see the whole of Azarath. Not that I could ever go down there...

"Describe it for me." Jared said, leaning back in his seat, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. I didn't really see the point.

"It had white stone floors, a window and a single bed."

"There had to have been more than that."

"No, not besides sheets and pillows. I didn't spend much time there."

"Wouldn't the stone floors have been cold?" He asked inquisitively.

"I thought we were learning about you." I muttered.

"Just tell me if it was cold or not."

"Fine. No it wasn't cold. Its hot on Azarath."

"How hot?"

I stared at him in amused exasperation.

"Nice hot. Sun on your back but shade under the trees hot."

"If you didn't spend time in your room, then where did you spend it?"

"With Azar."

"Who's Azar?"

I could spend all day telling him about her. There was a word for Azar, one that was on the tip of everyone's tongue when they saw or thought about her, it just wouldn't come out. Indescribable, but I would try.

"She was...my mother and my mentor for the first part of my life. She trained me alongside the monks, but unlike them she seemed to understand somewhat. Understand that when I couldn't do something immediately it wasn't because I was trying to ruin them. No one trusted me, even as a four year old."

"So she was the one who taught you to be... guarded." He said, more of a statement than a question. There was a hint of accusation. My chest warmed at the thought of his protective streak for me. Jared loved me; the thought kept coming up at such strange moments.

"Yes. But she had to, for her people. She was the leader of Azarath, the title passed down from her mother. She never had children, though she never seemed to age until right before she died. She was beautiful. I'm not sure what race she was, maybe not a race at all, but she had the smoothest coffee-colored skin and hair down to her waist. When she got sick her hair turned white and the skin around her eyes darkened. When she died Arella tried to look after me."

"And then you came here?"

"Yes, we went through the whole Arella mess before we left. Can we talk about you now?" he shrugged mutely. "Just tell me... what was your mothers name?" I asked softly. The mood changed. He had never really talked about his parents. It struck me Jared had been an orphan. Was still an orphan.... what age did you stop?

"Her name was Mary. She had short Blond hair and was very pretty. A housewife. I remember her being the one who was always there, with new crayons or a paper towel. Ben was her favourite. She used to carry him around like a doll, making sure nothing happened to him. Maybe that's why he was so small, or maybe that's because he was so small."

"And your father?"

"Daniel. Hair like mine and smelled like cigarettes. I can't remember what he did, but he was ex-army. But I was his favourite, I think." He suddenly smiled. "He got me into martial arts when I was five. It was one of the only things I carried on doing after they died."

"Is that where you learned...?" I gestured to him in general, and his smile became a grin. Red-X had to of come from somewhere. I knew Jared's skill hadn't just materialized one day.

"Some of it." He said cryptically. I narrowed my eyes, though the effect was ruined by the fact we were still holding hands, his finger stroking my palm occasionally.

"You have to tell me."

"An airplane is hardly the place Raven," he fake-sighed, mocking common sense.

"Your _so_ annoying. You said you would tell me."

"I don't remember that."

"Sure you don't." I sighed sarcastically, while he smiled.

Silence, but it was comfortable and warm, not like the ones I was used to.

"I... went to China for a while." He finally gave in, nodding to himself. I stared at him.

"Uh _when_?"

"School trip when I was fifteen. I didn't have enough money to go on, so I obviously stole the cash. Once I got there, the teacher was pissing me off, so I separated."

"You just left?"

"Yep."

"And....?"

"Went to watch some cage fighting."

"Are you telling me that your skills come from Chinese cage fighting," I said in a dead voice. That was so... _Jared_. So why was it unexpected?

"Well, there was this guy there, and he was an ass, so I challenged him, and then there was this little Chinese woman, and she said that the winner got to meet this master guy. So I was like, what the hell."

"Your an idiot."

'What? I won the fight."

"Who goes to China and becomes a cage fighter?"

"Do you want to hear the rest of the story?"

"_Yes_ goddamn it."

"Well, I went and saw this master guy, who turned out to be the old woman. She showed me a _whole _lot of shi-new martial arts moves. "

"Aha. And this is how you became a master thief, who beats even Robin occasionally." I replied in disbelief.

"The suit helps." he said modestly.

"You seemed to take on Kyd Wikked okay at the fire." I cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, he had no strength. And as I say, I have been doing martial arts since I was five, and I was doing them seriously as well. I seemed to be naturally good at it, and it got rid of some of my aggression."

"You mean, if you didn't do martial arts, I would have _more_ testosterone-fueled violence from you to deal with?"

"Count your blessings sunshine."

"I do." I smiled in amusement. With a quick glance at the window I noted it was darkening outside.

_-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

_Tui Henderson_

"Be back before it gets dark, and stay away from the river this time!" Gemma yelled. I took no notice, and pulled open the front door, and then the mozzie screen door after it, letting them both slam shut with two loud bangs.

I sighed and walked out onto the porch, jogging down the wooden steps. The light switched on at my presence, focused on the deck-swing like a spotlight does an opera singer. The light was unneeded and unnecessary. The sun was still up, and the heat from the fading day was strong enough to go through my singlet-shirt and warm my overly tanned back.

Dog yelped in protest as I walked past her, not bothering to stop and talk, or even pet her fluffy patchwork head. She raced ahead of me down the path, stopping to bark at me every few meters to make sure I kept up. My sandals did nothing to stop the loose almost red dirt from dusting my feet black, so I shrugged to myself and kicked them off.

I was used to smoldering darkness at this time of night, even in summer. A slight chill, and goose bumps rising on my legs where the usual type of shorts I traditionally wore for half the year didn't protect and provide cover. The things I would have said I hated a year ago were some of the things I found myself missing most about Auckland. The temperature in Aussie was nice, especially here in Surfers Paradise, but at this time of night it was unnatural. When it rained the heat still got to me.

When it rained in New Zealand, you had better put that coat on or you would end up shivering and soaked to the bone, while other people laughed at you. I missed it more than I ever thought possible.

Deciding Gemma had no right to tell me what to do, I went down the split in the dirt track that let to the river. I needed as walk, and I highly doubted any crocs would suddenly decide to show up in _that_ particular river, in _that_ particular spot, at _this_ particular time.

Anyway, at least then Ben would feel bad if I died on his land.

I quickly revoked the thought and ran to catch up with Dog. The border collie seemed to grin and took off, legs going a mile a minute. I slowed down. Really, Gemma had every right to tell me what to do.

Not every parent would let their son's girlfriend move in.

Not _really_ son. Not technically.

But still, definitely their son.

Gemma and Jim adopted him when he was five or six, as long as Ben himself could remember. Gemma had every right to tell me what to do, now that I was staying here. But she was not my mother, so I doubted I could keep any promise to myself, or her, to keep out of trouble. Or keep away from the river, for that matter.

It was a peaceful place, surrounded by gum and eucalyptus trees, the water a murky brown, overrun with hungry female mosquitoes. I needed to keep an eye on Dog, or she would try to get in. Couldn't be too careful. Dog was my only friend when Ben was in a mood.

And he was often in a mood.

New Zealand was where everyone I knew was, all my friends and all my family. In Australia with Ben had seemed like a great place to go. Quitting school was something I had been planning for a while. It wasn't my thing, and year 12 was too hard for me to bother. What I hadn't planned was what I would do after I left. My sister Lissy had been annoyed, said I was missing a golden opportunity she hadn't been given.

I didn't go and make her get pregnant did I? And I didn't make my dad a common criminal, and I didn't make my mum marry him. All these things that weren't my fault seemed to somehow become intertwined with me and this was the only place I could shake them loose.

Trading South Auckland for the gold coast had seemed a brilliant idea.

After all, Ben lived here. His family had seemed lovely, generous, and since they already had three foster children, they reasoned that one more teenager wouldn't make much of a difference.

And yet... Ben didn't seem as kind and different when I spent most of my time with him. His family didn't seem so lovely when Gemma was telling me what to do, and trying to get me back to school. And when 'Tilda refused to give back my hair straighteners, or Leon wouldn't stop looking at me in a way I didn't like.

One more child in a house by the dirt bike track outside the city _did_ make a difference. It had three bedrooms, and since Gemma wouldn't even let me _near _Bens bed, I was rooming with 'Tilda until I got somewhere in life.

The path started to get steeper, the rocks more frequent, and the river closer in view. Its waters were above normal level, like it was about to flood. Probably another reason why Gemma didn't want me out here. One second you were ankle deep, and then... you were gone. Swept away, drowned, even if you were a strong swimmer.

That was Aussie. You could have a flashflood in Queensland, and a murderous bushfire in Victoria at the exact same time.

I heard a screeching sound of a hundred bats as they flew overhead. That meant it was about to finally get dark.

"Tui!" Ben called out from the top of the hill behind me. I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt and continued walking. Dog raced back to check I was still there and then darted back to the river.

"You shouldn't let Dog get so close." He panted, catching up to me. His blond hair flopping over his tanned face, as he flashed me a dazzling smile. He was a pure blooded aussie surfer. He must have run all the way down from the house.

"She'll be fine. I never have and probably never will see a croc down there." I said, looking down at my dust-stained feet in dusk light. I didn't want to talk to him. One minute he was honey and then the next he was metal. Sometimes he was both.

"I have." He said conversationally. "They sneak up on you"

"I wish _you_ would stop sneakin' up on me." I muttered, sighing to cover it. Of course he heard.

"I'm sorry, I just needed to catch up on my homework and Leon wouldn't stop fighting with 'Tilda and you were the closest thing I could have a go at. I was just a little wound up this arvo (1)."

"Yeah, I get it Ben, You go to fucking school; I don't. You do more work than me. You can surf and I can't. Your life is the shit. And you still can't be happy."

"Tui-" He grabbed my arm, but I was faster. You didn't grow up in south Auckland without learning something. I reached the edge of the river and felt like dipping my toes in. Maybe there really was a croc under the water, and it would pull me in. Dog nuzzled my hand affectionately.

"Tui..."

"What?" I snapped.

"Come back inside. We'll go to the beach tomorrow. Nothing to worry about."

"We'll go to the beach and everything will just be sweet?" I asked disbelievingly, shaking my head.

"Yeah. What's to stop it?"

I thought about it. Maybe I was just being stupid. So Ben had a go at me before, and I had no idea what to do with my life. It was peaceful out here, and it was affecting my mood like a pill.

"I guess..." I sighed defeated by Bens smooth talking. He knew how to work me. And I was just making a big deal in my head over nothing.

_Australians. I hated the lot of them. _

"Good girl." He grinned. Dog dipped her nose into the water, creating a dark ripple. Ben whistled loudly and her head perked up. He was a farm boy, and dog, along with all other animals, seemed to respond to him instinctively. "Oi, Dog! Get up here!"

Dog seemed overjoyed to see her true master, and raced over to us, tongue flying out the side of her mouth.

"Dog loves me." Ben said. "See?"

Dog was indeed sitting on his feet as if she didn't want him to leave.

"That's nice of her." I commented, half smiling. He laughed and kissed me on the cheek. Ben knew he was forgiven.

* * *

**_Oh Tui, she is so close to my heart already. For once I actually know what I'm talking about in temrs of geography. I have no fucking idea where california is on a map, but South Auckland and Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast are ingrained into my brain. Good times. _**

(1) **Arvo - afternoon.** Dragonfriend said he didn't understand the slang, and I thought a lot of others wouldn't too, so If you have any trouble understanding, just ask.

_**I havn't updated in a while. Tell me, have I lost it? Are you guys still reading? And are people having trouble with how Tui's name sounds? If you say it wrong, it might sound retarded.**_


	7. Airplane!

_Finally! _I can hear your thoughts right now, from all the way in New Zealand. I'm so veryvery sorry for the ridiculously long wait, but I hope it may be worth it. If not in this chapter than the next.

Spriterx, Fallfromreality, Kuyeng13, shadow, someones lost soul, Driftstar, Sam, Kraziiepyrozhavemorefun, Blackangeldust, Dragonfriend, Rein lin, Cinnamon-sweet, Areej, LightpainterZQ, silent shadow and Cat452 Thanks for reviewing the last chapter, and I hope you havn't forgotten this story!

Special shout out to foxwox, who you should all thank because he/she was the one who made me start writting this chapter. 

_Raven Roth_

Jared_ said _he didn't want to talk about his family, but when he got going, it all came pouring out, an endless stream of good times, little stories of adventures his father took him on when he was small. His father seemed to feature a lot, as a sort of super hero, who looked after and provided for the whole family, and still found time to teach Jared how to pick locks.

"It was beautiful." Jared told me earnestly with a hint of old mischief in his eyes. "It just clicked and opened for me, just like that. Suddenly, I could go anywhere." He grinned. I smiled wryly, wondering what Robin would make of this.

"So your dad taught you. Was it a family buisness?" I asked, my voice quiet enough so that other interested, other-wise bored passengers wouldn't hear, but loud enough so Jared could hear over the roar of the plane. He shook his head.

"Nah, unless he hid it really really well, dad was on the straight and narrow. He was ex-army, big on laws and authority."

"And yet he got a son like you."

Jared's smile faded a little and became bitter.

"Sometimes I wonder what I would have been like if they hadn't of died on me."

I had a feeling Jared would still have found his way into his profession somehow, and he would still be the playful idiot I loved. So told him so, leaning towards him to wisper it in his ear like a secret.

He grinned.

"Your probably right about that." He admitted, leaning back in his seat. I stretched my spine and rolled my ankles. I was starting to feel confined and stiff, all the horrible downsides to air travel. Among many other things. We should have booked first class, though neither of us would have been able to afford it. Especially not me. In fact, I guessed I owed Jared for _these _tickets.

I would pay him back. At the rate I was going probably in a couple of years, but still.

The plane lurched slightly to the right and there was a musical _ding_ as the yellow seatbelt sign flicked on and the screens in front went blank. A short message about turbulance played through the speakers and then the in-flight movie started playing again.

A small child began to cry in the middle aisle and its single mother looked mortified and hurriedly started to bounce the toddler on her lap. The blond child wailed a little louder, and several _jesus christs_ resounded throughout the cabin, muttered quietly under every third persons breath, but easily heard all together. The mother, clearly young and frazzled, with a sleeping baby on her other side who wouldn't stay sleeping for long, closed her eyes and seemed to be muttering a prayer silently.

"Poor kid." Jared muttered. I wasn't sure if he was referring to the mother or the little boy. Without hesitation he flicked his seatbelt off and stood up, briefly pausing to roll his shoulders before agily jumping over my legs to get to the aisle. He landed with a loud thump that would have seemed louder without the child's cries.

Before I had time to hiss "_What are you doing?!" _at him, he had sat down in the closest empty seat next to the woman.

Jared had gathered attention from flight attendants for boldly leaving his seat, but they settled down once they realised he was not a crazy person with a bomb, but was actually trying to shut the annoying kid up.

I felt uneasy as he reached out for the little boy. Something in his face was different. Maternal.

The woman stared at him. She wasn't unusual in that sense. We had been getting stares from many passengers. Some in awe, some in disgust- as being the couple who dissapeared to the bathroom together and didn't return for half an hour. Reluctantly she passed him the squirming boy.

"Hey kiddo." Jared grinned confidently. The kid stopped screaming for a second to peer at the strange man holding him. "Where are you headed?"

The mother- and alot of other women- stared as the kid sniffed and replied tearfully;

"Austrawah."

Jared nodded with feigned shock.

"Wow! Me too!"

The kid opened his mouth in real amazment. The he looked to his smilling mother for encouragement. She seemed delighted and relieved such a strong, capable young man had come to her rescue. I was starting to hate everyone on this flight.

"Wewy?"

Jared nodded.

"Whats your name?" the boy asked more forcefully, dropping down to sitting position. The men in the cabin, satisfied the kid would be quiet, let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Uncle Jay." he replied thoughtfully, using the name Ana's kids had for him. Oh no. I did _not _want him to morph into some kind of _child whisperer_ whenever we left my apartment. Unfortunatly this was a habit for Jared. He _loved_ kids, and kids _loved_ him.

"My names Sam." The kid said confidently. Jared dug in his pocket awkwardly while I watched on with narrowed eyes. He pulled out a writting pad and a pen.

"Hey Sam, do you like to draw?"

Sam nodded enthusasticly and Jared took down the tray table and put the pen and paper on it. Sam twisted around and began to scribble random lines and circles happily.

_Voilà!_ From everyones worst nightmare flying on a plane, to a little angel. Jared should write a book.

"That was amazing." The mother gushed in hushed tones so she wouldn't wake Sam up from whatever spell Jared had put him under. "I'm Marni."

"Jared." He smiled back.

Hazarding a look at the flight attendants, whose attention was now elsewhere, I unclipped my seatbelt and slid over to the remaining spare seat next to Jared. Sam and Jared glanced at me but the mothers eyes were trained on Jared.

It wans't like me to _need _to sit with Jared. I wasn't clingy, or usually jelous. I detested such trates within people. But I sensed this woman had something in commen with the slutty flight attendant, and I was not even going to give her the chance to turn me into someone jelous.

He shrugged humbily.

"I've had lots of practise."

"Do you have kids at home?" The woman asked eagerly, making conversation. Fishing for information on his relationship status more like.

"Yeah. But there not mine" He said, leaning down to check Sam's drawing as if inspecting priceless art. "Their my friends kids but I look after them while shes at work. I just got the touch I guess." he shrugged again.

"Oh. We'll I'm sure you'll make a great dad someday." She gushed. What was wrong with her? Who said something like that to someone they just met?

"I hope so." He replied in a nochulant tone. Ice flooded my chest. No, no, no, no. Not this again. We had this discussion already. Briefly, because I couldn't handle it. But who my age could? Eighteen, and already my boyfriend was mapping out the family we would have. He was only twenty-one!

"Excuse me?"

The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. The women finally took notice of me.

"Oh. I'm sorry. You must be Jareds wife."

"Girlfriend!" I insisted loudly. Sam jumped and a few people looked up from their trashy paperback novels or newspapers. I looked down at my feet, realising I had commanded enough attention from the entire cabin full of people already.

"Oh. I shouldn't have assumed- Jared just seems so mature- How old _are_ you?" she babbled, distracted. She may have been young, but she talked on and on like a lonely grandmother. She also loved to say 'oh!' and it was grating on my frayed and split nerves.

"Almost twenty-two." Jared answered, carefully tracing a circle on the pad paper for Sam.

"Godness me. Most men your age would have run a mile at the sight of a crying child or the mention of marriage."

"Not many places to run to on an airplane." I mumbled, only half sure she couldn't hear me. Jared was ignoring my tone and attitude, probably day-dreaming about wallpaper colours and bassinets. Traditionally, that was my job! Not that I wanted it. Far from it, I wanted us to stay as we were now. Living seperatly, with copious use of the contraceptive charm.

I knew that the thing Jared wanted above anything else was the thing he had when he wasn't old enough to appreciate it - a family. That was what this trip was to him. A journey to his goal. Ben first, then who knows.

"I've always loved kids." Jared said truthfully. My insides still felt cold. Was he trying to pound this message into me, or was I just paranoid? Maybe, as I was now considering checking each and every food item he gave me in future for fertility pills.

"Well, thats very rare. Your a lucky woman....?"

I realised she was talking to me.

"Raven." I answered sullenly, half a second too late. I didn't feel lucky right now. The way Jared was looking after Sam, and eyeing the baby made me scared for some reason. There was longing in his gaze.

"She is pretty lucky." He grinned suddenly, and I felt a little more at ease. Cocky I could deal with. But _clucky_?

I snorted.

Marni nodded and looked interested in what he had to say, so I slipped back into my seat and pulled out the only book I had packed, the one on obscure poetry I had been reading when Jared first sat down at my table uninvited, when I had no idea the idiot in front of me was Red-X.

I guessed I had been lucky. My friends didn't like our relationship, but they didn't report it to the police, or worse, the Justice League. Every time I thought of what _could _have been, a small shiver went through me. It went against everything Batman had taught Robin to leave us be, but he had done it, for me.

And now I was leaving without a goodbye.

I tried to tell myself it wasn't permanant, but something in me wished it was. The thought of never seeing Terra's oh-so-innnocent face again was very tempting. If she hadn't shown up again, I knew for sure I would have called the Titans and told them where I was going, and how long for. Beastboy had made it very clear he didn't give a fuck where I was, but Starfire and Cybrog would have been pleased to know I was safe.

I settled back into my seat and opened the book to the middle, feeling it leather spine and watching its crinkled pages flip open to my place. There was something beautiful about the opening of a book, and the promise that came with it. I was beginning to enjoy it again, since Malchior didn't trouble me any longer. Jared had fixed that.

_The moon sinks down with virtigo, _

_The subtile rays falling below,_

_The rounding curve of wet and-_

I glanced over at Sam to see him staring at me intently. I avoided his gaze. Something in childrens giant eyes made me think they all had empathetic powers.

_-rock,_

_over layers of fire,_

_molten hot._

_and in the rays, _

_the night sparks die,_

_replaced by light from heaven on high,_

_The people wake, the day arrives,_

_bees buzzing around their rotting hiv-_

"Would you like anything to drink?" The slutty flight attendant asked. I shook her off.

My book kept me occupied for the next couple of hours while Jared played super-nannie to Sam and his little baby sister. By now it was getting dark outside, the clouds tinged with purple as the day drew to a close. In a few more hours we would land and start looking for Ben. I settled back into my uncomfortable seat and tried to sleep.

* * *

_Victor Stone a.k.a Cyborg_

Despite currently being yelled at by three angry titans, Beastboy looked pretty pleased with himself. He smiled at Terra and she managded to return it weakly, though she looked afraid, like we were suddenly going to turf her out on the streets because BB's behavoir was bad.

"Stop grinning!" Robin ordered, the prominant vein in his forehead pusalting. The smirk finally slid off his face, though he didn't yet look remourseful. I inwardly sighed. For some reason Beastboy had become cocky and irritatingly careless when it came to Raven. I didn't think we were going to get a sincere apology out of him unless Terra demanded it, something I didn't think she was capable of, since she was now terrified of my little sister thanks to BB's big mouth.

Raven would have been furious, and probably would still be for a while. Her father was her big secret that she held close to her chest. No one outside of her little circle was supposed to know. Terra wasn't in that circle.

"Why don't you see how your actions affected her!?" Robin demanded, taking up pacing. He didn't really need to train, pacing kept him strong and fit in the amounts he did it.

"My actions didn't affect her, Raven always looks moody like that." He replied off-handedly, grinning again. Starfire frowned and pushed a newly highlighted blond strand behind her ear. We had spent the day at the mall, talking to Terra. It was nice to have her back. It brought BB out of his depressed state and back into his joke-cracking best. Everything would be perfect, if not for the Raven situation.

"Then you wont have any problem calling her." I said, pushing the call button on my communicator and chucking it to him. Insctitivly he caught it, scowling. It was better that Raven thought I was calling, that way she might actually consider answering it.

We waited for a minute, until Beastboy shrugged and chuked it back to me, brightening.

"She's not answering."

"Try her home phone" I replied, chucking it back with the number ready dialed in.

Homephone. It was strange that Raven needed a phone seperate from the rest of us. That she lived in a different house. I hadn't yet visited her there yet, as she had once joked that I probably wouldn't fit through the door and then seriously said I would cause too much intrest among the tennants around her. It was also strange to hear her joke, but I guessed she got like that when she was happy. Something she hadn't been living in the tower.

Beastboy scowled and listened, his eyes suddenly becoming wide. I could heart the faint electric murmer of the answering machine.

"Listen to this." Beastboy said gingerly, passing the communicater to Robin as if it were a bomb. Rabin placed it to his ear, his fingers becoming tigheter and tighter around the disk until I thought it might brake. Finally, he slide it across the bench to me with a very controlled blank look on his face. Beastboy winced as if he was going to explode. I re-dialed and listened for the source of their strange reactions. After two rings, I heard Jareds voice and wondered why I didn't think of that Bastard before.

_"Raven isn't here right now, and wont be for a while. We've gone on a little holiday, so if you need to contact her please leave a message. If its urgent, too bad,"_

His voice became menacing and I could picture his smirk in my head, his arm around Raven as if she were his property, his eyes gleeful.

_" -and if your the Titans, don't even bother. Cause no ones gonna get back to you."_

_"What are you doing?"_

Ravens voice, monotone and suspicious.

_"Nothing Sunshine, lets get going."_

_beep beep beep beep_

"Oh damn." I sighed, seeing Robins livid face.

* * *

_Raven Roth_

The planes wheels hit the tarmac with a jolt and suddenly, we were in Australia.

In what seemed like seconds but were really minutes, the crowd of tired passengers had pushed us out to the front. I hadn't even registered Jared shoving my duffel bag into my arms.

It seemed strange to be here.

The slutty flight attendant flashed him an award-winning smile and smirked at me as if she knew something I didn't. I glared back in return and pulled Jared down the stairs before she had a chance to intitiate conversation. I heard Jared's amused chuckle.

Imediatly we were hit with a blast of hot, dry air. I blinked against the bright morning sunlight, my head pounding at the quick change in altitude and trying to work out what time it was here. I needed a minute to gather my thoughts, but it seemed Jared knew exactly what he was doing.

"We can hire a car and check into a bed and breakfast somewhere. My PI is over here, hes gonna meet us tomorrow." He said, opening passports to the right places and navigating the crowds to get us through final customes checks. Almost like he had bought maps of the airport and studied them with Robin-circa-Slade-investigation-esque intensity, Jared led me through the airport with detirmination, as if he had an internal compas dragging him forward. I struggled to keep up, with my short legs, and relished the rest while we waited by the baggage carosel for our luggage.

Clicking his tongue, Jared pushed the way to the front, his hair flat on one side due to his headrest.

He _never _clicked his tongue. But then, I guessed I had never seen him restless before.

In fact, he was baring a striking resemblance to that kid on the place who couldn't sit still because he was so excited when the place started to descend and Jared finally moved back to his proper seat after gushing over Marni's baby for a few hours. I grimaced and pushed my way through the crowd after him, trying to avoid hands that may or may not have been trying to grope me. Sometimes it was hard to tell, especially in large groups.

"You alright Sunshine?" He asked when I reached him, already pulling his bag over his shoulder and leading me out of the crowd again with his hand on the small of my back. His bag was bigger then mine, but as he had said, he had been packing for this his entire life.

"Sure." I answered, taking a deep breath as we cleared the crowd. In truth I was still bothered by his converesation with Marni, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. The next few weeks and days were about finding Ben, and I had to focus on it. He smiled at me and together we stepped out of the air port and into the sunshine, headed for the rental cars and a cheap hotel to rest in before meeting the PI tonight and getting our first clue towards his brother.

* * *

So there you have it, not very good but the next one will be better I promise. Hopefully I will be back on track, and continue to update regularly beside _Falter_, which if you havn't read by the way, you should. Please?

Review so I know you people havn't grown old while waiting for me to get my as into gear and write this!


	8. Searching

_Alexander - Oui! I have missed you very much! Did you miss a chapter? Things did happen in the bathroom.... though I didn't spell it out. I also say this because in your second review (niceeeee) you wondered if Jared had been with slutty flight attendant (she has no other name). No they did nothing, she was just smirking cause she got a hot guy to stare at her chest, though that is not really hard. _

_Kadija - I'm back for more. Raven gets no revenge on Jared in this chapter, well, you'll see why. _

_Antonella - awesome! Almost compleatly what I was going for, and now I am going on the hunt to find one that matches her exactly..._

_Sam - The titans are in this a little bit. You'll see. Sadly the link was broken. *sniff*_

_Michelle - Nothing happened with the blond. We girls just try to make each other feel horrible when we lose, no? Thats what slutty flight attendant was doing. _

_**As per usual, if you have an account, I may have just replied to your review that way. I got really into finding pictures for characters, so look on my profile for a whole heap of them. Hopefully they show up. *fingers crossed***_

_

* * *

_

_Raven Roth_

His knuckles were white and blotchy red over the tar-coloured steering wheel, but he had a kind of manic grin on his face. It was hard to concentrate on the scenery when he was smiling like that.

"Are you okay?" It seemed silly to ask why he was so happy, so this was the next best thing. Jared nodded and glanced at me, grey eyes seemingly back-lit.

"I'm fine. Just excited." He put his foot down gently on the brake, slowing down for the turn off. I had now idea how he knew where to drive, but I did know he was having trouble with the drivers side being on the right, and being on the opposite side of the road he was used to.

"So we're meeting your PI tonight?" I asked, leaning back into my seat. The long-haul flight had been restless and now my back and neck felt stiff.

"Yeah, at a resturant by the beachfront. Around seven, he already made the reservation a couple of days ago."

"Does he know I'm coming?" I asked, watching the tall Eucalyptus trees that bordered the highway whip past. I could faintly smell their scent from in even in the car, thats how strong it was.

"I told him about you last time he called. He asked if you were a looker."

I raised an eyebrow as we passed a patriotic outback-themed pub. This PI sounded shady, but I expected nothing less from someone employed by Red-X.

"I told him to keep his hands off or I wouldn't pay him." he promised.

"That would be illegal." I pointed out. We were nearing the city. The highway was packed with motorists headed for the skyscrapers, which wern't that tall compared to Jump's.

"Not to mention he wouldn't give me my information. Which is why you have to be rested for tonight. In case a fight brakes out over your innosence." He was joking, but I frowned nonetheless.

"Rested?"

"Yep. We're gonna check into a hotel and your going to sleep while I get some stuff done." he said, as if it were fact.

I snorted.

"You can't make me go to sleep."

No one controlled my routines. _I _didn't even control them.

"No I can't, but you should. You didn't get much sleep last night or the night before and I have a feeling we might not get much tonight either. I'm not even sure how many nights we'll be here." He said, verging on apologetic. "Maybe I shouldn't be so spontanious." He grinned.

"I don't think you can help it," I said grimly, truthfully. "And fine, I think I will go to sleep. What 'stuff' are you going to do?"

"You know, groceries and other things..." He replied casually, meaning it was definatly something criminal. I pretended to myself that I didn't hear that. It was easier that way. I sighed, the long-suffering girlfriend. Though instead of dirty washing and unwashed dishes, it was a criminal record that I had to deal with.

He grinned again, driving towards the beach. I could tell that was the direction we were headed because the pavement was covered in half-dressed bodies, carrying surfboards or picnic basketts with towels slung over their shoulders. It must be the weekend.

He suddenly pulled into the underground garage of a hotel with a vacancy sign, manouvering the car like it was much faster, expensive, and heavy-duty than it really was. I frowned at him but he ignored me. I guessed it wasn't his car, or mine, so he didn't care if it fell apart.

"The rental company will be pissed if you brake the car."

"Who says they know I have it?" he retorted, parking close to the entrance.

"Jared!"

"Joking, joking." He amended as we got out, locking the car. "If I was going to steal us a car, I would steal a better one."

"How comforting." I mumbled sarcasticly.

We walked up the carpeted stairs into the reception area, the first thing I saw being a rack of brochures for different tourist attractions. Australia Zoo, a few snake farms, Ripley's Beleive it or not museum, theme parks...

It was the kind of hotel lower-middle-class families stayed in for holidays. Practical and cheap but with no great style. White walls. A potted fern. It would do fine. The middle-aged receptionist appeared before I could ding the small silver bell on the desk and started jotting Jared's details down on a pad of refill. She had a long face like a horse, a bad blond perm and dark crimson lipstick painted lips that were frowning at me.

"Will that be a single, or a double room? Single 'as one double bed and a double 'as two rooms, one with a double bed an' one with two twins." she asked in her heavy accented, husky-from-ciggarettes voice.

"Single." Jared said immediatly, no hesitation, no sideways glance at me to see if it was okay. The woman rolled her eyes and sighed, as if she were sick of renting rooms to unmarried, sinful couples.

"Two oh' sex, if ya lose it, the fee is ten dolla's."

I raised an eyebrow at her pronounciation of 'six' as the woman handed him a key and watched as Jared picked up our luggage and headed up another set of carpeted stairs to our new room.

The room had a small kitched area and a navy blue couch in front of a boxy television set. The carpet was inexpensive and the bedroom was empty save the lumpy bed and a small sidetable with a lamp and an alarm clock. It smelled and looked clean enough, and the screen door opened out onto a concrete balcony overlooking the pool and hottub outside.

The second I entered it and flicked the overhead fan on the reality of the situation hit me. Jared would be staying in he same bed as I would, every night, instead of sparsly and unpredictably. We would be spending a lot of time alone together, and when other people were around the would only see a young couple on holiday. The way I wanted it. I felt a seconds happiness at the thought of Robin, Terra and Beastboy realising I was gone and collasped on the couch.

It was sunny and hot outside, the suns rays passing through the window and hitting my skin in a warm, pleasant way.

"Sorry about the room." Jared murmered, dropping down next to me and pulling me into his arms so my back was warmed through my shirt.

"Huh?"

"I don't now how long we'll be here so for now I'm trying to conserve funds." he said, reasting his chin on my shoulder so I could feel the movement of his jaw with every word. There was a dull tiredness settling over me, something I had been staving off on the plane and the drive into the city.

"It's fine." I replied truthfully. "compared to my apartment, its a palace."

I sighed in contentment, the sun warming my bones and releasing all the tention from my body. It felt clensing, and I barely gave a thought to exactly _when, _if ever, I had felt like this before.

"But you deserve a comfier bed." he insisted, moving one hand from my stomach under my shirt and up my back, tracing my shoulder blades and rubbing back down to the small of my back, above my waistband.

Suddenly I felt too hot in my jeans.

"A bed is still a bed no matter how comfy." I breathed, unsure of what I was implying, if anything. His hands- both of them- moved up and over the curve of each of my hips. He gave me a light push so I fell backwards onto the couch with him on top of me. Just as it had many months ago(thought it seemed a lot longer than that) when he had first kissed me on a couch, my stomach twisted in nerves and pleasure and internal heat. He seemed to take my lack of objection as encouragement, because his lips crashed into mine again, his grip on my hips tighetening and pulling my pelvis towards his, so hard it hurt in a good way.

This was the kind of kiss I loved from him. The kind that made my stomach clench and burn with desire, the kind that made me blush down to my neck, passionate and drive.

I parted my lips for his tongue, grabbing at his clothes. Jared responded by taking my shirt off compleatly. His dark hair hung over his eyes as he looked down on me, his lips curved up in a devilish grin as he glanced out the window for a split second.

If he hadn't done that he might have gotten away with his fantasy of making love in a semi-public place with the chance of someone seeing, but here was where I drew the line.

"Bedroom." I murmered firmly, giving him as stern a look as I could manage. He grinned wider.

* * *

When I woke up I was alone. Jared had stayed with me until I had fallen asleep, his breathing and the rythym of the ceiling fan the most soothing sounds I had ever heard.

I rolled over to look at the glowing alarm clock. The curtains were also faintly glowing, the sun trying to shine through them. Jared must have closed them before he left to wherever he was really going, whatever he was really doing. It was five o'clock. I never usualy was able to sleep for seven hours at a time, especially not during the day, but mayby the way I fell asleep had something to do with it. If I could fall asleep tht way every night (morning) I would. A big reason I hadn't wanted to move in with Jared after I had left the Titans was the bed problem. We had just started sleeping together and I had been a little afraid of what he would expect from me. But if everytime we shared a bed was like that...

Jared popped his head around the door, his grey eyes alight with familiar mischief. His black hair fell around his face, gently displaced, and his smile told me he was remembering the half hour before I fell asleep. As always, it was slightly smug.

"Good afternoon sleepyhead." he greeted me. I sat up, clutching the white sheet to my chest, noting he had taked off his shirt again.

"How come you didn't wake me up?" I asked as he sat down on the side of the bed, eyes playful. I had to rip my eyes away from his washboard-like set of abs and muscular biceps, curtasy of his Red-X job.

"Your too beautiful when your sleeping." He grinned, smoothing my hair down. I was in need of a shower. His hand lingerd on my cheek before falling down to rest on the covers. I cocked an eyebrow.

"And when I'm awake?" I asked in disbelief. His compliments always caught me off-guard and made me feel a little ridiculous because I couldn't just take them. It was stange, suddenly being an object of desire. I was expecting his love for me to fade, but it never did. Sometimes it gave way to lust, selfishness, frustration and even anger but love was aways there, beween us.

He lent over and kissed me on the lips, quickly. The taste of coffee lingered.

"Equally if not more stunning-" he kissed me again, tilting my chin up gently. Again, the taste of coffee along with his apealing smell of sweat, soap, oil and colonge.

"-though you do tend to be a bit more arguementative in this state." he added, against my lips. I grabbed the back of his head and held him to me in a breathless kiss. He wasn't complaing. I released him and sprang up, taking the sheet with me. He rolled off the bed just in time.

"Your becoming very unpredictable." he said in amusement from the floor.

"Your fault." I retorted, wrapping the sheet securely around my naked body.

"You know that sheet is partialy see-through right?" he grinned, eyes crinkling mischieviously. I scowled heavily, realizing he was right.

"I'm going to have a shower." I told him, headed for the bathroom. "Alone!" I added just as he stood up eagerly, almost falling over himself. Just to be sure I spelled the door shut once inside. Not that I didn't want him in the shower with me, just that I didn't want him in the shower with me, _just now._

* * *

_Richard Greyson_

"No one under the name Raven Roth _or _Jared Wilson was on a flight out today." Cyborg announced in frustration, slamming the end-call button down on his comunicator and gripping the steering wheel hard. Beastboy spoke up from the backseat of the T-car, where he was sitting a little too close to Terra_ again_, though she definatly didn't mind this time either, judging by the furious blush on her face and the hopeful smile she was wearing these days. It frustrated me to no end, neither of them were paying much attention to the situation at hand- the fact that Raven had gone off with a known criminal without telling any of us!

"Maybe their not really where Jared said they were?" he suggested lightly, and I knew that would be all the contrbution we would get from him today.

"No, Jared likes to tell you exactly what hes doing, so you feel even worse when you can't stop it. He wouldn't lie about _this._" Cyborg growled. Starfire, chewing her lip next to Terra, looked much more worried now, and I felt it internally. She was far away, I knew that. I could feel it from our bond, so I knew there was no way they'd gone to Steel city for the weekend or something like that. Overseas? That was taking things to a whole new level, one I didn't want them to be on.

"Maybe they have done they 'eloping'?" Starfire suggested, her voice hopeful. Even though she was not Red's biggest fan, since he took her best girlfriend away from the tower, she would still be excited and happy about a wedding. A shudder went through me at the thought of Raven in a white dress on some Australian beach, sun setting, flowers in her hair and a ring on her finger, standing in front of _Jared. _

"No. Rae would move in with him first." Cyborg said riggidly, his shoulders stiff with the same thoughts I was having.

"Unless Beastboy pushed her over the edge, and Red was there to catch her with a marriage proposal." I growled, trying to make Beastboy feel _something. _He ignored my comment.

"So uh, where we headed?" Terra asked tentativly. I glanced at her innocent face for a second and decided I couldn't be angry at her. It wasn't her fault Beastboy's brain turned into mush everytime she was arround.

Cybrog turned into a rough neighbourhood, graffiti and taped up windows everywhere. A stoned girl watched us go past with the most bloodshot eyes I had ever seen. She would have been extremly pretty otherwise. Terra's blue eyes widened in horror.

"Since Jared and Raven apparently never got on a plane, we're going to his house to look for clues." I said addamently. Beastboy straightened up, his eyes wide and attentive.

"I'm listening now." He said quickly. I smirked. Something inside told me he would be. He hated Red-X. Beastboy and Raven had harboured a complicated relationship before he came along, and Red had just made it ten times worse with his goading and snide comments on the sideline. Since Raven was only at the Tower when she was accompanied by her bodyguard boyfriend, Beastboy was taking a disintrest in her as well, when he really only wanted Jared gone. The chance to rifle through Red's things would overtake any desire to be unhelpful finding Raven.

I had known where Jared's house had been for a long time. I had typed the adress into our special maps system, and had seen a 3-D view of the house, so I long ago knew that it lay in a street of partial squalar. When I thought about it, the thief had been smart when he moved here. No one expected anything more shady than the copious amounts of petty crime and drug dealing that had and probably always would be going on.

But before now I had made myself promisde not to go there. It would have resulted in a fight. If I wanted to talk to Red, I called Raven and told her to pass on the message, usually a warning after The Titans had delt with a theift that seemed a little too complicated for H.I.V.E or any other untalented criminals. But now, when this was for Raven, I had no problem going to Jared's house, and searching through everything.

Cyborg parked the T-car on the street, glaring around at any house that had people near it, in case they approached the car. I hoped they stayed away too, if the car got damadged I would hear about for the next few days until it was fixed.

"Second floor." I told an over-eager Beastboy. He jumped out of the car, taking Terra with him by the hand, and raced over to the apartment block. The rest of us followed suit, my adrenaline pumping as we climbed the stairs. We were going to see where the theif lived, where he takes Raven when she's not at her apartment. What would be inside? Would the exterior be just a rouse, and the interior filled with stolen riches? If so, I was going to have a lot of fun hauling them outta here.

The sound of children gigling carried throughout the floor, and it just didn't sound like something Jared would be surrounded by. Maybe his walls were soundproof so it didn't borther him that much.

"Cy?" I asked with a smirk. He gladly bent down by the lock and examined it. Then he gently inserted and small chrome-coloured rod into the key-hole and waited for a few seconds while we stared at him. Then there was a click, and the door swung open as heremoved the rod and folded it up. He shrugged at our gapping faces.

"Just a little something I've been working on. Its the quietest way to open any door."

We all grinned and entered the apartment, careful in case he had alarms or traps. When nothing happened, I let my curiosity reign, and so did the others. The apartment was relativly small, clean and sparsly decourated, though there_ was_ a big flat screen.

"You sure you got the right place?" Terra asked. I replied happily that I was, and went straight through a door into what I thought was the bedroom. Starfire got started on the kitchen, the place she was the most likely to understand which things should be there and which things shouldn't.

The bedroom was more compact, with a large, suspiciously expensive and comfortable double bed, a cracked set of draws, a desk, and a window. The venetian blinds covering it were skewed and missing a panel, so I could see some of the outside, mostly just part of a rusted tin roof from the next building. But my thoughts were focused soley and painfully on the bed. I tried to stave off thoughts about wether Raven had slept in it or not, and ripped open the first draw. It creaked and protested on its wooden runners, and revealed nothing but t-shirts and sweaters inside. The next draw was the same, with pants and shorts. In the next draw, my heart became hard. It was the underwear draw, filled with boxers, socks.... and a pair of black panties. I highly doubted they were Red's. Judging by the lack of lace and other trimmings you would expect on underwear like this, they were definatly Ravens.

I really hoped he had stolen these for some perverse reason, rather than Raven having simply left them here.

I rammed it shut with exsessive force, causing Cyborg to poke his head in with a questioning look. I shook my head and catiously opened the last draw. Jackpot.

This draw had no clothes. Inside was a goldmine of objets, from the four large bundles of cash to the stack of false passports.

"Cy, get back in here." I called out, so naturally everyone did.

"What is it Robin?" Starfire asked breathlessly. I held up the stacks of cash. Beastboy took it from me with huge eyes, so I shot him a warning look. This had to be saved as evidance against Red should we ever be able to arrest him, not pocketed.

Picking up the stack of passports and flipping each one open. "This explains why they didn't board the flight. He used fake passports." Cyborg muttered.

I frowned deeply.

"Do you think Raven knew about it?"

Cyborg shrugged grimly and showed me a passport under the name Marie Tilly. Raven's photo was in it. I grabbed the other passports, flicking through them. James Avery, Kevin Dubose, Samuel Thomas, Elspeth Wilson and Daniel Hennison. Four fake passports for Jared and two for Raven, plus the ones they had used to get on the plane to Australia, ahd their real ones. They were very good fakes, and if I had seen one by itself I would have testified it were real.

This was highly illegal.

Another stack, this time of facedown photographs, lay under the passports. I picked them up and flipped them over. Raven was on the first one, a very recent picture of her sitting at a table and smiling at someone out of the frame. Jared must have been fast to take it. I don't really recall seeing her face like that. Crinkled up in brief happiness.

In the next photo she was glaring at the camera. That was more like what I was used to.

The next one was of a pretty woman with dark curly hair. In her arms there were two smiling children, obviously related, showing off their missing front teeth. The next photo was off Jared with the same children. Secret family? I kind of hoped so. But I knew knowing our luck, and Red's, Raven would probably stay with him even if there was a family from the past. I had seen the way they looked at each other, the way Jared was her comfort and her protector now. It had been obvious when Beastboy had pulled his little stunt, and instead of running to her room, Raven had run to _him. _

He was much too young to have a secret family anyway. All these passports had the same age on them, twenty-one, so I took it as the truth.

"Woah look at this!" Beastboy thrust a photo in my hand. "Little Red-X."

The photo was shot in someones yard, and a pale yellow panelled wall was visible in the background, along with a dark grey cat stalking across the back, trying to get away. The picture was of a family, mom, dad, and two kids. The woman was blond and pretty, smiling and holding a tiny blond child in her arms, who was grinning from ear to ear. He was maybe two or three, judging from his size. The man was large, with muscled arms and harsh black hair pushed back. There was a scar running down one his entire right forearm, possibly defence wounds. He was holding onto the legs of the boy up on his shoulders.

The kid had the exact same smirky grin that I hated, and in this photo he only looked about ten. Jared Wilson with his family.

For some reason this made me feel uneasy, as if we were really doing something we wern't supposed to. Criminal's and Hero's wern't supposed to bring in their personal lives, but I guessed since they both broke that rule it didn't matter anymore.

"Red-X has a family?" Starfire asked a little sadly.

"Of course Star." I answered. Somewhere out there, a mother must be wondering what her son is doing. And his little brother, who would be about fourteen now judging by the picture. What if he thought X was a role model? Jared was even more irresponsible than I thought.

Starfire took the picture and stared at it, tears welling in her eyes.

"Raven has told me they are dead." She whispered guiltily. She clearly wasn't meant to tell us. Raven had probably sworn her to secrecy. "But look at them Robin. His parents are so pretty and handsome and it makes me sad."

I didn't feel any sympathy for Red-X. Nearly all _our _parents were dead, and while now I could see the path Jared took to get to being Red-X more clearly, it didn't change the fact that he took that path.

"All of them?" Terra asked. Clearly this was affecting the females more. Starfire shook her head.

"Benjaman was taken away by-" her emerald eyes grew wide. "Australians!"

Now this, I was interested in.

"Taken away?" I asked. Why would Jared not have been taken? Oh right, cause he was a smart-ass now, and it would have been even worse back then. Starefire looked confussed, as she often did when trying to grasp a word she didn't know very well.

"Adding- no...ad....ad....adopting!" she said finally, and everything started to click into place. Australia. So they hadn't gone for a simple holiday. Jared had gone to look for his brother.

"So he's tryna find this Ben kid?" Cybrog asked for comfirmation. I nodded.

"Looks like it."

"But he can't just waltz into his house and demand his brother come back! What if Ben doesn't want to go?" Beastboy demanded. While there was something noble about going to find his brother that made me respect him a little more as a person, even though I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, Beastboy had a point. Would Jared result to something criminal to make his brother come back with him?- of course he would.

"Vat are you doing 'ere!?" A scandalized voice rang out through the apartment, followed by the appearance of a beautiful and furious woman at the door. I scrambled up, discretly shoving any passports near me into my belt. Terra threw her hands up in surrender at the sight of a small knife the woman was wielding as protection.

She was a foriegner, with big dark eyes and thick dark hair, not to mention an amazing body partially hidden by her office clothes.

"I asked you vy you are in dis apartment." She said, moving forward.

"Mama?"

A small child of around three moved into view, her face worried. Tears were welling up in her big dark eyes, the same as her mothers. Damn it.

"I told you to stay inside Reny!" she scolded, all the while keeping her eyes on us.

"Look, I'm sorry we just-"

"Broke into my friends house?" she hissed, pushing her child out the door. We moved into the living room, bigger and safer than the bedroom because there was more room to escape her little knife. If she was Red's friend, than she was probably had more practise with it than she was letting on.

"Why is he in Australia?" Beastboy asked stupidly. I sighed. The woman frowned but faltered.

"You know Jared?" she seemed surprised, and lost all fierceness.

"Uh not well. We know Raven." Cyborg said, putting it mildly.

"Oh. Vy didn't you say so?" she asked, sliding the knife back onto the block it came from. Then she paused, and a furrow came into her brow. She seemed young to have the child that was poking its head around the door again curiously. "Are you ze friends zat work for ze government?"

She obviously had no idea about Red's activities, or Ravens, but she seemed to know them well otherwise, or thought she did.

"uh....yeah."

Her eyebrows came together.

"Zo you are alzo ze friends who dizzaprove of zere relationship?" she asked retoricly, and sighing as she scooped up her child. Somehow I thought that if more people knew, we wouldn't be the only ones disaproving. I wasn't even sure other criminals knew. They probably thought he was in Jamaca for a holiday.

"You don't know the whole story." I settled on. She raised a dark eyebrow, in such a Raven-ish way that we all shut up.

"I'm zure I don't. But I'm zure you don't eizer."

This had me thinking she _did_ know about the whole Red-X thing. Maybe the kid was in on it too, because she didn't seem to like us much either.

"Why you in unca Jay's house?" the little kid demanded. Unca Jay?

"While you are Raven's friends, I am also Ravens friend, and that alone does not give you the right to break into peoples apartments."

"Jared seems to think it does." I heard Cyborg mutter. When we were acting like criminals it was time to leave. We knew where and why Jared had gone for sure. That was more than I expected to find out.

"Your right, we should leave." I said, making my way towards the door, checking the passports were still tucked into my belt. I had seen a few of the others grab some stuff, but I wasn't sure if it was important or not. We had to get out now, before we aggitated this woman any more.

"Hm." The woman held tight to her child as she passed. "Jared vill hear of this when he gets back." She warned. I nodded. Fine by me.

* * *

_Jared Wilson_

When she came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped protectivly around her wet, naked, glistening body in place of the sheet, I was waiting for her with some of the things I had brought on my errands today. Raven stared me down suspiciously, water dripping from the tips of her hair and down the curved tops of her breasts in rivules.

"I got you presents." I grinned happily, drinking in the sight of her. Securing her towel with one hand, she held out her other, showing me the glass necklace and the saphire promise ring I had given her glistening in her palm.

"You've already given me plenty of presents." she grumbled, as if they were punishments instead of gifts. Though she _did _wear them everyday, the necklace hidden underneath shirts that covered too much. It was hard to look fiecre and vulnerable at the same time, but Sunshine somehow managed it as she frowned at me with no clothes on.

"But these presents are necessary." I promised. Angel sat down next to me, arranging her towel so it covered her thighs addequetly. I wondered why she bothered, considering I had seen every perfect, delishish bit of her. She glared at me, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

Trying to contain my glee, I held up the first thing I had brought for her, a simple black... bikini. I enjoyed her look of horror.

"No.." she protested, but I held up a hand. Her violet eyes narrowed delecatly. One false move and I would be in another demension before I could beg for mercy.

"C'mon Sunshine. Australia means lots of water, and this is the most modest thing I could bring myself to buy."

So true, so true. I thought I had done quite well. When there had been so many skimpier choices that would have just barely covered her body...

"How do you know it will fit me?" she demanded, a pink blush creeping across her cheeks. I glanced over her thin, curved form next to me on the bed and shrugged offhandedly, fighting the urge to press her body to mine and inhale her scent of hotel soap, inceanse and herbal tea.

"I guess I know your body well." I couldn't help but grin at the truth. It wasn't exagerating to say I had memorized her body every time I touched her, so I could go over it in my mind during the more boring of my buissness lectures. I could go so far as to say her hips kept me sane enough to gain my buissness degree.

Raven gaped at me me, embarrased and increadulous. I hoped the bathing suit _did _fit her perfectly because her expression then would be even better.

"And the second thing..." I annoucned, when it looked like she had nothing to say. This was a feeling I loved. The feeling of smug happiness and exileration after rendering her speechless. I help up the simple, knee-legnth (Much too long) navy dress. Her eyes scraped down it brutily.

"Why would you feel the need to buy me a _dress_?" she asked cuttingly, spitting out 'dress' like it was a dirtier word than the sailor's language she frequently uttered.

"For tonight. The resturant my PI booked is loosly formal."

With an explantation, she sighed quietly and took it. Then she shot me a pointed look, eyebrow raised. I stared back, seeing the way her dark lips curved down at one side, and the perfect pale grey shadow of her long neck on her collarbone.

"Get out." she prodded me flatly. I grinned and kissed her pouty lips, quick, but deep, before exiting the room, cherishing the blush curving up her face. She shut the door with her powers behind me, and I went to put on my dress pants and dinner jacket, resigned to the fact I wasn't going to get to make love to her for at least another couple of hours, so I might as well put clothes on.

I was bouncing around the room, waiting for the clock's hands to move so we could leave and talk to my PI. Kyle Coopland had promised to be on time, since he usually had a problem with that. He often called hours after was schedualled, and it drove me crazy. In his last phone call, he had told me he had actually sighted Ben and that he more or less knew the area he lived in. We could start searching it tomorow.

To think tomorrow I could see my brother again made excited and nervous in equal measures. It was unlikely he would remember me, but he had to at least remember his real mother. She had carried him around and spent every moment with him. When he had to attend school a few weeks before she died, I remembered her crying as we left in the car with out father, who had been tight-lipped as to why.

"Jared?" Raven asked, leaving the bedroom, and presenting her back to me. The zip was undone, and she looked frustrated, presumably from trying to do it up herself. I took one look at her long bare back and was over to her in a second.

"Are you ready to go?"

Her hair was dry and clean, curling slightly with its new length. It was down to her breasts by now, and she bared a strong resembulance to a sarcastic Eve from the garden of Edin when naked. I zipped up the dress slowly, wishing I was going the other way.

"As soon as you want." she said, turning around to look at me with a searching expression. "Are you nervous?" she asked with a raised brow. I shook my head and she rushed back into the bedroom to grab the only formal pair of shoes she owned, the fetish-inspired ones her 'aunty' gave her. When she came back out she was scowling slightly.

I led her to the car and wondered what my parents would have thought of her. It wasn't like in the ten years of my life they were present for we talked about girls. Maybe the odd, "When you get married..." cut off by my protests that girls were gross. I wished they were here to see her. I had a feeling that even back then, when I was ten and she was seven, she would have fascinated me.

Maybe I would get a chance to find out what my family thought, if Ben agreed to talk with me. And if he didn't, I would make him.

* * *

**_Well how are you gonna do that Jared? oh wait, I know already. _**

**_Review!_**


	9. One mans search for a loaded gun

_**So here we are again. A huge revalation in this chapter, and if you don't see it, you must be literally blind. Like, your eyes must have been pecked out by ravenous birds. Or maybe you've all just had a line of pixels burnt out of your computers in the exact same place this huge plot-giver awayer has been the entire time, mentioned in almost every single chapter during undiscovered and beyond. Only one person has seen it, but sorry, can't remember who. Whoever you are, apparently you're a genius.**_

**_This may not be very well edited, but I'm sick and don't care. :) Sorry for how long its taken, but you know I have to be stuck at home with nothing better to do to convince me to write. _**

**_Oh and sorry for how I sometimes portray the Australian accent. I know apparently the kiwi and aussie accents sound the same to americans and such, but to me there is a huge irritating difference and the transtasman rivalry thats been bred into me was too strong not to do it. I couldn't help myself. And besides, some Australians do sound like that. hehe._**

* * *

_Raven Roth_

The restaurant was inside a hotel and casino on the beach front, but it was better than it sounded. Outside it was still warm, so they had thrown the doors open out onto the balconies, so the slight sea breeze could roll through. It was clean, mainly peaceful blue and cream colors, and it smelt like salt and roasting beef.

"Do yoou 'ave a Resarvation?" The blond girl at the front desk asked suddenly, noticing us and smiling unnervingly.

"Coopland?" Jared said, leaning over to check her list. He had dressed up a little for the occasion in the fact he was wearing a blazer, yet he pulled it off like it was everyday attire he was comfortable in. Though the most handsome thing about him tonight, was his unfaltering smile.

"Right thus way pleays. Fish of the die is bluew cod." She led us to a table close to the open doors, where places were set. Jared looked at me, confused. This girl's accent was so thick we could barely understand her.

The restaurant was crowded, but not uncomfortably so. Couples dominated, some staring at tablecloths as they ate, some staring into each other's eyes and laughing, their food untouched. A few feet away a man ate alone, shooting bitter glances at a well behaved family table of four, and then pitying, smug glances at a rowdy table of three haggard adults and five loudly complaining children.

"He should be here soon." Jared said, craning his neck around. Unlike most people, his nerves made him incredibly still. I had expected his hands to shake, but they were completely steady as he pulled out my chair, like the perfect gentleman he sometimes felt like being. I supposed the stillness was needed to be a great thief when under pressure.

The blond girl handed us menus, but we left them unopened. A man was rushing into the restaurant, a large file under his arm, ignoring waiters' protests. He spotted Jared, and my heart rate spiked. I could feel his excitement. It thundered through him constantly, a never-ending current.

The man, in his late twenty's with short sandy blond curls collapsed into our tables empty seat, puffing and waving off the waitress's attempts to hand him a menu.

"I can't stay long!" He finally growled at her, digging a manila envelope from his jacket with great difficulty. Her smile disappeared and she followed suit soon after. Jared was fixated on the envelope.

"Jared Wilson I suppose? You sounded older on the phone. Detective Kyle D. Coopland." He said distractedly, leaning over to shake hands briefly. His eyes were a shocking bright blue that matched his serious voice and business attire, though his suit and hair were rumpled.

The man offered his hand to me, and I took it reluctantly, though before I could clasp he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek with a sudden roguish grin. For once, Jared didn't even notice. He was still staring at the envelope.

"So you _are_ a looker!" he smiled. Creep.

"This is Raven." Jared answered, zombie-like, still staring at the envelope.

"Well, I'll get right to it so you two can have dinner. As I said, I can't stay long." He suddenly looked worried and slapped a few sheets of photo paper on the table. Jared lunged for them.

At least this man was to the point, even if he was staring at my chest while Jared looked over the photos, his grin becoming wider and wider. I sighed, leant over Jared's shoulder and saw what looked like a younger version of him with touseled blond hair.

Ben. Walking somewhere unknown, wearing a school uniform, clearly unaware the photo was being taken. His face was exactly the same as Jared's as far as I could see. Detective Coopland gave us a few minutes to stare at the photo, before pointing out there was another underneath. This one was taken from behind, though there was another person in the photo. A girl, about the same height as I was, a head shorter than Ben and Jared. They were holding hands.

"These were taken yesterday on the boardwalk. You look a lot like him"

I grabbed Jared's hand.

"I followed Ben Thomas, as he is now known, to a house just out of the city," He opened the manila envelope and slipped a zoomed-in map of Brisbane over to Jared. In Red Marker, a route that led to Kalburrow Road was marked out. Scrawled over the street in black biro was the number 27.

A street name. All we had to do was drive there. If Jared was really restless, we could go now. Jared took it in hand, his brows furrowed as he committed the map to memory in case he lost it.

Maybe he felt as if staring at the small square that represented his brothers house would transport him there, this very second.

* * *

_Slade Wilson _

"He's late again!" I observed, drumming my fingers impatiently on the desk. Wintergreen made a sound that I took to mean he wasn't surprised. The detective was always late. The only reason he would be punished this time was because he was speaking to my nephew.

I vaguely remembered the last time I had seen Jared, when he had been just Jared. Before he had adopted the Red-X persona, and bedded the half-demon.

It must have been a few weeks before he had left school, or so Detective Coopland had told me. The day I had decided to abandon all my hopes that he could match and replace his father's, _my brother's_, skill.

It had been humid, that I remembered clearly. I would have preferred to go out in cold weather, when a heavy coat, scarf and a hat to hide my identity would not look strange. Teenagers stared shamelessly when they spotted my eye patch. Whispered to their friends curiously. But I couldn't take any real lengths to conceal my identity that day, for a trench coat would have made school teachers weary on such a hot day.

It had been inter-school athletics day, held in a large stadium in a better part of town than where Jared went to school. I didn't stand out as much as I'd thought. There were plenty of other adults in the stands, cheering on children. I didn't share the resemblance between Jared, Ben and Daniel. I was able to watch Jared's race unnoticed in the shadows.

I had been tracking both Ben and Jared from the time they were separated, but my hope for Ben had disappeared long before that day. Ben stuck to every school rule, was never particularly good at sports or at the top of academics. Even the people I paid to watch him up until his thirteenth birthday reported he was mild mannered and average in every aspect. Jared was more likely to make a good apprentice. He often skipped school in search of a quick, often ill-gotten dollar and was constantly running from authority. When he did turn up to his lessons he fought older boys over girlfriends (Usually winning) and excelled at anything to do with business or sports. Qualities that were important.

In my mind, this athletics day was going to decide if I would finally make contact or not. His forays into crime were not always smart and though he hadn't been caught yet I knew it was only a matter of time before he would unless I stepped in. But I had wanted a natural. If Jared had won the race, I would have stopped him on his way home, told him I was his uncle and pulled him out of his dead-end schoolboy career.

But he hadn't. With young girls screaming on the sidelines and his cocky grin on, Jared had been distracted. He had been fifteen, but I had forgotten that. I had, for a split second, seen Daniel in his face and expected greatness. He came second, and I had walked back to the airport, bitterly disappointed yet already thinking about acquiring a different apprentice. The Titans had just started up with a young Robin at the helm...

Then four years later a nineteen year-old Jared Wilson had stolen the suit Robin had made in a foolish attempt to catch me without his friends interfering. Something had changed, and suddenly my nephew was working large crime, employed by mob bosses and jealous millionaires seeking to steal from their friends. That was when I knew I had made a mistake, and I should have introduced myself to Jared properly when I had the chance.

Kyle D. Coopland burst through the door, his face red and his expression panicked.

"You are late. Again." I said coolly. Wintergreen tsked next to me and poured the coffee. Detective Coopland took a second to regain his composure with a deep breath and shakily extended a manila folder to me. I snatched it up with a sharp look. There was no need to wear my mask around this man. He was too terrified to tell anyone.

"Jared kept wanting to talk..." he muttered. Excuses.

Wintergreen shook his head, and the man fell silent. Inside the folder were pictures of Benjamin Wilson, the younger brother who was the key to get to Jared. Maybe, if all went well he could be trained as well. It was what my brother would want.

"I trust Raven Roth was there as well?" I asked, examining the map to my nephew's house. Jared would be following it soon enough. He was eager to find family, something that would work in my favor. The three of us, picking up from where Daniel and I left off.

The detective nodded furiously.

"The girl, she- was at the restaurant."

The only flaw in my plan was Raven. The fallen superhero who had somehow managed to turn Jared around. If reports were true, he had not been seeing any other woman while seeing her and that was rare. When I had discovered Jared's theft of the Red-X suit I had taken to re-building his profile, getting information from anyone who had been in his life the few years before. Jared had been described as something of a cheater, who never stayed with one woman long enough for them to know enough about his double life. He had been with Raven too long, and was much too attached. He had been seen infuriated and distraught when that idiotic Rusumungu or something had his minions push her out that seven-story window. It had resulted in his shooting the man in the foot, a light punishment that only shattered his bones in one foot and ankle. Still, enough to get him in trouble if Robin hadn't cleared it all up once Raven had healed.

Jared must have really stopped his criminal activities if the Boy Wonder was fixing legal matters for him.

It was unlikely that Jared would want to join me as an apprentice if Raven was breathing down his neck. I didn't know what hold she had over him. Certainly she had inherited the frail good-looks of her foolish flighty mother, and the powerful grace of her vicious demon father, but I had never seen her put them to any good use. She refused to use her heritage to her advantage. There were many women, heroes and criminals alike, who dressed scantily and used their beauty to get what they wanted but Jared was with her even though she was always covered up and scowling. It had to be love or something else with such life-ruining qualities. I knew it all too well.

If I broke them apart he would thank me eventually. Relationships never ended well for the Wilson men. Bullets to the head, dead children and burned bodies. No fairy tale endings there.

"You check with me before giving Jared any more information, if he asks. He will have to meet with Ben himself." I told the detective. He nodded. He seemed very keen to get out the door.

"You may go."

He hesitated, opened his mouth and then closed it again.

"What about the pictures?" He blurted out suddenly, more fearful than ever. I smiled as I remembered the reason he was working pro-bono. The pictures of his promiscuous, bi-sexual past. The one his devout christian bride didn't know about.

"Ah. Those. You will get them when the job is done."

When I had Jared and Ben here, both willing to become apprentices that wouldn't disappoint like previous experiences, then I would cut Coopland loose. He nodded and left, back straight. I listened to him break into a run as soon as the door shut. His hurried footsteps echoed off the marble tiles.

"All the information there?" Wintergreen asked, one eye on the security cameras, watching Kyle D. Coopland run out the front door and into his car, nervously trying to start it. Pathetic.

I flipped through the extra sheets of paper I had requested Jared not be given. Profiles on each member of Ben's adoptive family. I was searching for holes, a way into the family. A way to the brothers.

"I think so. Benjamin's adoptive sister Matilda has an interesting birth mother. A drug addict who tried to make contact last year. I want you to check if she has any useful contacts. If so, we must do everything we can to get her clean or appear that way, so she can try and enter Matilda's life again. We need someone on the inside, close to Ben. If she has no contacts, do not hesitate to dispose of her."

No need for anymore drug addicts in their world, especially useless ones. I didn't usually kill unless I was paid, or if the person was a threat, but drug addicts didn't count as people after a certain amount of time had passed.

"And I want this girl that lives with him, Tui Henderson, to be checked out. Detective Coopland seems to think her family is connected to gangs in New Zealand. She might be persuaded to our cause if it's true. Benjamin's older adopted brother seems to have no family left, I wouldn't bother with him. He has aspergers."

My oldest friend nodded and went to work straight away. If I got someone on the inside, then destabilizing Jared and Raven would be easy. And once Jared was on his own, he would come to me straight away, and family would once again be reunited.

* * *

_Jared Wilson_

Kyle Coopland was gone, and I... I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe how easy all had been. Ben turned out to be so simple to track, I could have found him years ago. The only thing that stopped the regret from seeping in was that Raven was still holding my hand, engrossed in the pictures the detective had left behind in his rush.

Up until now the search for Ben had seemed like an endless chance across seas. The end had looked far off, but now it was here, and it had rushed up without warning.

"I can't believe it." I laughed suddenly, feeling the tension stored in my muscles release along with it. Raven smiled slightly.

"We can go to his house tomorrow! I thought it would take weeks! I thought we'd have to spend days staking out his school, waiting for a kid who looked like me to walk out. That detective... he's always late but who cares when he's this good!" I rambled. Every word felt like a weight lifted, my soul lightened. The quiet table of one shot me a glare but I couldn't stop grinning. It was starting to hurt my face, but in a good way.

"It was fast." Raven admitted. She didn't seem to comprehend how amazing this was.

"May I take your orders now?" The blond waitress had returned, smiling again. I quickly ordered two steaks before Raven could order herself a cup of tea and a salad and sat back, pleased with myself and at peace with the world.

"Since I thought we'd have to stay longer, instead of conserving money, we can get a new hotel." I said. We would have excess money, now that our holiday only had to last as long as we wanted. Tomorrow, I could go see Ben. _Tomorrow!_

"The hotel we have is fine." Raven sighed, immediately defensive against anything fun.

"The bed's not." I pointed out. Wasn't big enough for a start.

"Please. Do not try and get me to sleep with you tonight while we're in the vicinity of _that_." she nodded her head at the rowdy family's table. Their pudgy baby was screaming and trying to overturn its bowl and the young girls were having a loud argument over who read whose text messages without permission. The woman who I assumed was the mother because she simultaneously looked the toughest and the most exhausted yelled for quiet. The whole restaurant shushed for a moment, before everyone unfroze and pretended it didn't happen.

"You have your little contraception charm." I said off-handedly. Though, would it be _so_ bad? Our kids wouldn't be that badly behaved.

"And you're damn lucky I do." She mumbled. She trailed off, muttering something that looked like 'otherwise there'd be no way...'

I decided to speak my thoughts aloud, just to see how she'd react. Tonight had been so good so far, maybe I'd get lucky, in more ways than one. Maybe we should move to Australia, it seemed like my lucky place.

"Even so, what would be so bad about having my baby?" I asked innocently. Several people looked up from their meals to stare at me then looked away again, embarrassed. A dull flush crept up Raven's pretty neck.

"There is _nothing _about that sentence that isn't bad!" she hissed, letting go of my hand. She was fooling herself. Reproduction was a natural human desire.

"C'mon Rae. Every girl wants kids. Didn't you play that game where you picked out you're kids when you were small?"

"If I had started talking about having demonic children when I was young, even Azar may have re-thought her no killing the spawn rule" She growled, moody once more.

"Don't tell me you've never wanted kids." I scoffed. She herself had once admitted she was upset because she missed that little girl, Melvin. She was amazing with the twins. She was a natural mother.

"I can't say I've given it much thought. But then I don't much think about living on Mars either, it pays not to dwell on the impossible."

"Well I can say I've given it lots of thought." I grinned, watching the smallest child finally reach its bowl of potato mash and tip it off the high-chair.

"So cute." Raven said sarcastically. The youngest pre-teen, who looked about twelve, was still seething with anger over her older sister not letting her borrow her cellphone.

"Hey dad, I've been reading this really cool book lately." She said loudly. Her sister eyed her wearily and her father smiled in shock at the sudden change of subject. The mother was trying to clean up the potatoes while the waiter who brought over the damp cloth stood above her, glaring into space.

"Really, what is it about?" He asked, trying to keep this safe conversation going.

"It's about a girl who sneaks out of the house to meet older boys and steals money from her mother's purse." The younger girl said with a determined glance at her sister, who was gaping at her, furious.

"Shut up!"

The father was confused.

"It's Catlyn's diary." The younger girl said smugly. The teen reached for her throat, more chaos ensured.

"You want to deal with that?" Raven demanded, violently inclining her head towards the spluttering teenaged girl who was clearly lying through her teeth as she tried to explain herself to her mother. "You want to never have a spare moment to yourself? Because that's what it would be like."

"Our children would be too intelligent to act like that." I argued confidently. She pursed her lips. "Not to mention good-looking." I added with a side-ways grin. "and too scared of their demon mommy to steal from her."

Well, it was true. They would get the best of both worlds. Huge power, rules, criminal intelligence, a balanced morality, a stable home, financially and emotionally. What wasn't there to like? It was almost as if we were made to create and raise awesome kids.

"You'd teach them to pick locks. They'd fight with other kids and end up hurting them badly. Intelligence has nothing to do with it." she argued. I ignored her.

"I wonder who they'd look like." I mused.

"Shut it." She said flatly, pouring herself some water, narrowed eyes flicking to me and away again.

"I hope they get your eyes-"

"Stop talking as if it will ever happen!" She urged.

"-and my devious grin-"

She sighed loudly and stared to ignore me.

"-and your lips-"

The man alone at the table started to snigger. Raven threw him a dirty look; which only encouraged him more.

"-and my cunning-"

"And your idiocy?" She suggested.

"And your sarcastic wit." I finished. She looked ready to explode.

"I'm not and never will be pregnant, so stop talking as if I am." She said emotionlessly, seemingly disturbed by the very thought. I didn't understand her. I looked into her eyes, trying to find a real reason why not. We were together, her friends knew about us, it was only a matter of time before she moved into my apartment. There was no way we were breaking up, there was no doubt about my commitment to her, so what was the problem?

"Its not happening." she warned haughtily. The family table left the restaurant, looking almost glad to get away. The waiters could barely contain their happiness.

"Just think about it." I replied, suddenly feeling a little bad for making her talk about this right now. Sometimes I forgot that she was eighteen, not thirty-five like her maturity level suggested. Maybe she didn't want to disappoint her friends further by getting pregnant within a few months of leaving the tower. "In a year or two, this won't seem so crazy. I get that it might seem kind of early to be talking about kids, but that's only if you think of us as a normal couple."

She glared harder at me so I dropped all joking from my voice.

"Sunshine, we both gave up a lot to be together. I can't associate with my old friends anymore in case they find out about you. I can't operate publicly because Robin knows my name. You had to leave your home, and your career. Your friends are confused about why. My point is, we've both given up all that and we did it because we know we're the real thing. That's why I don't think its too early to _talk _about children.

Raven swallowed at my serious tone. When she spoke her voice was rough.

"Why do you want kids though? If you want some sort of commitment, why not marriage?" She asked.

I laughed. Marriage? No point. No one would turn up and who cared about a silly piece of paper? and besides, it was like a legal-documented invitation for people to find out Red-X and Raven were together.

"I don't want to marry you." I said baldly, curious to see if that was what she wanted. Certainly, her eyebrows rose like she was mildly offended. "At least, not unless you want that... someday." I amended carefully. Some day, very far off. Her eyebrows were still raised at me so I figured I should explain.

"I want kids because... I love 'em. Because my family was destroyed. I'd always thought that when I found a good enough girl, I would _make _a family of my own with her, out of nothing. I want to have kids that look like me, that I can teach. And thought of being able to bring up something that's both a part of me, and _you..._" I had to stop for a second to picture it. Genetic proof that we're together. An imprint of us both.

"Now I don't want kids Raven, I want _our _kids."

Raven stared at me in shock and the blond waitress cleared her throat, red-faced at the personal conversation she had just overheard. I hadn't realized she was standing there. She placed the plates of steak down in front of us and pratically jogged from the table.

"I'm so young." Raven muttered, without looking at her food, or me.

"I get that. Like I said, in a year maybe." I said, picking up my knife and fork.

"I don't think that will be enough." She said quietly. I wasn't worried, but I did frown. She always had to second-guess everything she did, wondering if she would fail. She did with me. But then I remembered she gave in, and smirked.

"You'll change your mind."

"You're an Idiot. Don't be so sure." She sighed. I laughed.

"One day you'll mess up and forget your little spell in the heat of the moment." I grinned. That was going to be my new plan from now on. Surprise attacks.

She gave me a look that clearly told me she didn't find my joke funny.

* * *

_Raven Roth (next day)_

Jared's hands were tight on the wheel. His turns were sharp and precise, yet nerves didn't stop him from driving at eighty-five kilometres per hour in a fifty zone. It had taken all my pleading and simpering looks to keep him at the hotel until three o'clock when I knew Ben would return home. He had risen at an oddly early hour, and I had to force him back into bed. Jared had wanted to drive to Kalburrow Road before Ben had the chance to leave for school, but I didn't think it was best for him to meet his brother while they were still both half asleep.

Kalburrow Road was long, further out from the city than we had thought, in a rural area dotted with rows apon rows of sugarcane plants and rivers. Every house we passed was mounted on short stilts above the ground, presumably to prevent it from flooding the inside when rainy season struck. Finally we spotted number twenty-five, and at the long driveway after it Jared pulled in, loose dark red dust flying everywhere.

The driveway went down on a slope, and from here we could see the pale green house that must belong to Ben and his adoptive family. It was surrounded by Eucalyptus trees and bush, and the huge water tank with peeling grey paint gave the impression that they weren't particularly wealthy.

Jared was silent as we got out of the car. Crickets were raging in the distance and the sun beat down relentlesly on every surface. I was too hot in the jeans and long sleeved shirt I was wearing, but at least I could be thankful for the protection they offered my skin from the sun's rays.

We were both silent as we observed the scene. If one of us spoke the spell would be broken. Jared stared at the building for a few more seconds, then strode towards the house so fast I had to hurry to keep up.

My heart seemed to pound like a jackhammer as we neared it. The veranda stuck out like a second thought, the paint a shade or two brighter than the pale green of the actual house. It was modern on the inside though, and big. Through a wired screen door I could see the front of a shiny dishwasher opposite from us. And it was clean. There was no sign of the red dust that now covered my feet on the house, and I supposed that in itself was a difficult feat.

I chanced a look at Jared. His face was tight, as if approaching his doom. With anyone else I would have expected him to turn around. Have doubt in their minds that stopped them. But not Jared. He had waited too long for this. I grabbed his hand to find it sweaty.

As if this were a painting in which we expected nothing to move, we jumped when a young woman rounded the corner, followed immediatly by a large Border Collie who was panting in the heat. She bent over to twist the tap on the water tank, the fluffy dog pausing to lick up the water that missed her plastic drink bottle and hit the ground, turning the dust brown. The earth sucked the moisture up thirtily. I had read in the paper that was delivered to our door this morning that farmers were fearing a drought. The young woman sighed and moved the bottle so the dog could drink directly from the tap.

She was quite skinny, but she was definitely taller and younger than me. Her skin was tanned brown, like all the locals and many of the tourists but there _was_ something different about her. Her hair wasn't fair, it was black,thick and curly, and her tanned skin was a different sort of soft brown that reminded me of native Hawaiians. She was dressed in shorts and a faded grey t-shirt, and was wearing a thick black cord around her neck that disappeared under her shirt. She wore a pair of jandels, but her feet were stained red from the dirt.

Jared seemed frozen by her, in either hope or despair. His brother was sixteen, there was no way he had moved out of home already to live with this girl, who looked the same age. So maybe this wasn't his house. Or maybe she was just a friend, which meant Ben was somewhere close.

She straightened up, the dog by her feet energized again and spotted us. Arching an eyebrow high, she walked towards us, clicking her tongue to get the dog to follow. As she came nearer I could make out the shape of her necklace under her shirt, it was that big. Most likely a stone, in some kind of twisted shape.

"You's need something?"

Her thick accent wasn't Australian, but it was definitely a close relative. She pronounced 'you' strangely, almost aggressively, though her face was neutral. She had large lips and eyes and a slightly flat nose. I couldn't work out where she was from. She almost seemed polinesian or indian, but her skin was the wrong colour and neither race fit quite right.

"Does Ben live around here?" I asked, my voice strangely shaky. The girl pushed a curly strand of hair behind a heavily studded ear. A small black stylized stretcher was plugged in each lobe, and above it at least five other stones and sleepers glinted in the afternoon sun.

"Uh, he's out eh." She said, her brown eyes alight with concealed suspicion. Maybe she noticed how nervous we were.

"But does he live here?" Jared asked again, his voice urgent.

"Yeah. But a lot of people live here." She rolled her eyes, resentfully almost. I sensed a sudden spark of anger and frustration along with her words. "But you can come and wait for him inside if you want."

With an excited look, Jared followed her, not unlike the way her dog was. I did too, my heart pounding loudly in my ears. Sweat ran down the back of my neck as we ran up the steps and followed her inside the house, being hit by a welcome blast of cold air from an old overhead fan that looked like it might fall from the roof any second. The kitchen smelled like sweat and lemon scented air freshener.

"Don't bother taking ya shoes off. It's too fucking dusty already to get any worse."

"Can you _puh-lease _stop talking to yourself?" A feminine, Australian-accent-tinted voice called out from a room down the hallway. The girl scowled and shut the netted door on the dog, before dropping down at the table, glaring at the animal as if daring it to whine.

"Stop whining eh?" She yelled back down the hallway. No answer. I recognized her New Zealand accent now, and realized she must be at least part native. I wondered why she would be living with Ben, and whoever that girl down the hall was. Suddenly the girl flicked her gaze to Jared.

She stared at him with an intrigued expression.

"So, What are you's here for?"

I looked at Jared and he looked at me. What if this girl wasn't as friendly as she was behaving at the moment? She had let us in the house, but now she seemed a little too curious and sharp. I sensed she was hiding something, and I didn't like it. I didn't ever like it when I couldn't feel much emotion from someone.

"I've been looking for Ben for a while." Jared started, plowing on. The girl interrupted him, shaking her head.

"And now you found 'em." She glared down at the table. For some reason anger was building in her. "Great."

"Excuse me?" I asked, dumb-founded by her strange demeanor.

"If you've been looking for him for a while, and you found this place, you should know that this is basically a foster home. Everyone here, 'cept for me, is adopted."

"Yeah-" Jared nodded but stopped when she started to stare at him carefully again, like she was examining a car engine. She took a sip from her off-white mug.

"Your way too young to be his dad, or his uncle. So I'm gonna guess your his cousin? Although why would anyone bother looking for their cousin?" She asked herself thoughtfully, retreating inwards. "I know I wouldn't. 'specially if I hadn't seen them since I was six or seven."

She rounded on me, her brown eyes boring into my skull. I repressed the urge to glare. That wouldn't get Jared any information. This girl was angry, worried and deeply troubled by us. I sensed she was thinking of throwing us out.

"And _you_ don't look nahfing like Ben."

Jared sighed. He looked tired.

"I'm his brother." He admitted.

"He doesn't have a brother. What'd you's really want?" She asked forcefully, glaring deeply into his eyes. There was something dangerous in her stare.

"What do we want?" Jared repeated, surprised.

"Yea, you want to bring him back with you, or, you just want to talk?"

"Why are you so hostile?" I asked, unable to not sound like a titan. I sounded like I was analyzing her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Because I don't want anyone coming around and causing trouble." She lowered her voice carefully so the girl down the hallway would be unable to hear any of this conversation. "Mattie's mum came looking for her last year, and that caused all sorts of problems, even for me. All the fucking whining and crying. I don't want that... for Ben. Tell me what your here for." She commanded, suddenly looking dangerous as well. She was just a civilian, but she almost looked as if she wished she had a knife in her hand. In fact, her eyes kept flicking over to a wooden knife block in the corner of the bench. I felt safe knowing she wouldn't reach it fast enough to stab either one of us.

Now Jared was angry. I knew he had an instinctive hate for Ben's adoptive parents, because they had taken his brother away and left him alone, with no one. He wanted to make all kinds of trouble for them.

"I'm here to talk to him, and I don't think you can stop me." He replied testily. At that moment we all heard and saw a beat-up car pull up, R 'n B music blaring from its speakers. A boy with sun-bleached blond hair climbed out. Footsteps sounded down the hall and a willowy girl of about fourteen walked into the kitchen, staring at us. Her hair was a drab mousy brown, but it hung in long waves around her head and her face was carefully painted to look much older.

"What's happening?" She asked the maori girl with a pale face as she stared at Jared, her voice belonging to that of a scared child. My back tingled as I saw the blond boy come closer. He jogged up the steps with a carefree grin on his face, the same carefree grin that I loved, the same one Jared had when he was even the slightest bit happy. I couldn't tear my eyes away from his face.

"Hey babe, what's going on?" He asked the older girl, not really seeing us in the corner. His grin disappeared at the sight of her suddenly apologetic face. Beside me, Jared's hands were trembling on the table top. He stood up suddenly, and the trembling ceased.

Ben looked at him as if he were crazy, then his mouth hung open slightly as he took in Jared's features.

"What...Tui who is this?"

"This guy thinks he's your brother." She responded with a humorless laugh.

"Then he's crazy. I don't have a brother." He insisted, but even he wasn't convinced by his own words. Standing side by side, they looked so similar. They were the exact same height, about a head taller than I was. There eyes were the same, cloudy grey, the same shape. Same straight nose, same lips. Same broad shoulders. Maybe Ben's muscles were a little more casual. His skin tanner, his hair much lighter. But there was no denying what they were.

Brothers.

The young girl with the long hair tore out the front door, her emotions in uproar. She ran down the drive, the fluffy dog right behind her, barking playfully at her heals as if it were a game.

"Mattie!" Ben yelled after her, whirling around, but she didn't stop. The screen door slammed shut. "This can't be happening." He said, sitting down at the table, shaking his head. "Who are you?" He asked me as an afterthought, but then he shut his mouth and stared down at the table like he wished he hadn't asked. Tui got up and opened the fridge, pulling out an ice tray and smashing it on the bench, letting the small blocks fall out. She irritably gathered them and dropped them into a glass before returning to her seat and cracking one between her teeth and staring out the window over the sink.

"No one." I mumbled back quickly, trying not to move. It felt like if I did, something bad could happen. Jared continued standing.

"It's happening." Jared said, his eyes unblinking as they took in his younger sibling for the first time in a long while.

Their voices were the same pitch, even that was obvious despite the huge difference in accents. Nature verses Nurture.

"No it can't be." Ben insisted, grey eyes flashing. "You're American and like I said before, I don't have a brother."

"They didn't tell you where you came from." Jared said hollowly. He laughed humorlessly and shook his head in anger. He seemed far away from me. The maori girl was taken aback by his fury, her chance to stop us gone. Now she was an observer, like me. No way to influence the outcome of this meeting. My heart ached for Jared at the realization Ben's adoptive parents had taken the easy way out and ignored Ben's real family.

"No one knows exactly where I came from!" Ben growled back. "Thats why they _adopted _me!"

Jared slammed his body down on the last seat, his teeth gritted.

"You were born in California! Our parents died when you were six. You should remember them!"

"I don't remember anything!" Ben shouted. He was horribly confused.

"You will once I remind you!" Jared insisted. Ben shook his head. He paused for a moment and then moved over to the door, wrenching it open.

"Out!" He roared. Jared stayed put, staring him down.

"I'll come back! I'm not letting them lie to you anymore!"

"EH! He said out." Tui repeated, glaring at me. I stood up and grabbed Jared's hand, pulling him along with me. He didn't resist as I dragged him out the door, down the steps and over to the car, but he didn't exactly walk properly either.

I unlocked the door and threw myself into the seat, my breathing loud. Could that have gone any worse?

* * *

_**You all doing okay? That was a lot to process. **_

**__****Tell me about it. Let your reviews do the talking. **


	10. The Wilson Mean Streak

I'm back! Y'all thought I'd forgotten, didn't you? In any case, sorry to leave you hanging for like a year. Really sorry. But knowing me, you probably expected this. If you didn't think I'd continue, shame on you. Anyway, it's good to get back to Jared, I've been neglecting him. It may be a good idea to re-read the last few chapters to remind yourselves of the goings on. Hey, I needed to and I wrote them. Also, if you detest bad language, terrible dissapointments and fights, turn back my children!

* * *

_Raven Roth_

The window still down, I heard the sliding door slam weakly, but then the final, ringing bang of the heavy door shut behind it. I started the car, letting Jared sit in the passengers seat like a wilted leaf. The air was buzzing with heat and dissapointment. There was no signs of movement from the little house, and Ben's sister was long gone done the path toward the trees. I considered staying here in case Ben changed his mind, but I knew how little a chance of that there was, and let the handbrake down instead. Putting the car into drive, I reasoned it was better to get 'home' as quickly as possible. He had already been hurt enough for one day.

We'd been driving down the highway for ten minutes before one of us made a move. Jared, his hands steady, reached out to turn the radio on. Besides that we were motionless and silent the entire journey. I drove, focusing all my attention on the dusty road ahead, my shoulders tense, as if it were my first time behind the wheel. Jared stared out the window at the tall stalks of sugar cane that whipped past, then the campgrounds in the smaller town, then the concrete sky scrapers of the city. There was nothing either of us wanted to say to one another. The sun was already sinking into the horizen, and the day that had started out so promising was ending in disapointment so toxic it made me want to vomit all feeling from my body.

Ben had not been something Jared had simply _wanted. _He was not a precious jewel, or a new contract, or even me. Ben was something that had evaded Jared his entire life, but that today had been close enough for him to see it was real and not fantasy, at least before it disapeared again. I felt his emotions raging around the cab, felt them inside my body growing larger with every second of silence, until it felt like I would burst. Jared's hatred, his anger, his deep depression - it all compounded inside my skull and with nowhere to go, manifested into a painful migrane. It would have been enough to crumble me if I were alone, but I knew now was not the time. I could barely stand to look at him and see the disapointment on his face.

Feeling his pain right now was worse than any pain I had ever felt for myself. I wanted to kiss it away, to fix it for him, but there was no way. Nothing I could do. This was not a matter magic could fix. No, this was a matter of the heart, a matter of family and love, things I didn't understand at all for my lack of practise. Even though I had spent my life making sure I didn't want anything that was not sure to come to pass, Jared had not. He was not used to this kind of failure.

As I pulled into the underground garage and parked, I felt something change within him. The energy that had seeped from him now rushed back into his body in a wave of anger. He snapped upright and wrenched the door open, slamming it before I had the chance to undo my seatbelt. It echoed around the concrete. Jared was dynamite waiting to explode. The was fire in him now, stoked by frustration. It made the air vibrate like taunt cords strung between us.

I was used to the moods of men. I had rolled my eyes at Robin's manic pacing and calmed Cyborg's righteous anger. I had snorted at the petty jealousy that arose in men around Aqualad, and been frustrated at the Monk's attempts to cut me into a shape I wasn't. This, however, was different. This time, in the face of all Jared's terrible anger, I was a little scared.

But what was I to do about it? This hotel, with it's plastic pot plants, grey walls, and pockets of dust in each corner was my sanctuary right now. For the first time I had no room to run to and hide in for an hour. It was too hot to throw the covers over my head. Even now that dusk was falling, the heat in this garage was stiffling. Besides, Jared needed me. How selfish would it be to forget what had just happened, act as if he hadn't been dealt such a harsh blow. How _Raven _of me to want to avoid the emotions of others because they were difficult and confusing. Even if I was no Starfire, I should be able to comfort him. He was after all, my boyfriend. He had conforted me with jokes and soft caresses when I had paralysing doubts about my desision to leave the Titans. He was ready with sympathy when it came to my mother. Now it was my turn - how often did I really have to deal with a gloomy Jared? This was the first time. It was important in deciding how I would act in future. If I would be a grown up, or if I would tip toe around him until he cheered himself up, or sunk into a depression.

With no other option, I followed him up to our room to find him glaring at the door as if he could flatten it with his fury. When he spoke, in a sharp tone urging me to "hurry up", I realised I had the key in my pocket and with hands that trembled slightly, opened the door for him. The heat was welcomely combated by the fan we'd left on all day. He made for the bedroom but turned on his heel and walked over to the table and sat down. I followed cautiously behind. He got up and walked over to the kitchen, irritably opening the fridge. I took a deep breath of the cool air.

"There's nothing in here." he said bitingly. I didn't think he was really talking about food. This whole place was devoid of anything comforting, familiar or useful in this situation. I thought of Ben sitting miles away in his own kitchen and wondered if the visit had put him in a similar mood. I wondered if that girl, Tui, was unsuccesfuly trying to help him. If she was failing bitterly, like I was.

"I'm sorry." I replied, soft, so he knew what I meant. That I wished Ben had jumped up and embraced him. That I wished he would burst through the door right now.

He paced over to the wall and hit his head against it, cooling his forehead on the plaster. I didn't know what to say, how to move, the right way to act. I placed a hand on his arm, felt his tensed bicep. "He must have been in shock, he probably didn't know how to feel."

Jared shrugged me off and stepped back, giving me a look that made me feel like an insect.

"And how the hell do you think I feel Raven?"

He was upset. If today hadn't probably been one of the worst in his life I wouldn't have taken his tone. If he had been anyone else in the world I wouldn't have taken it. But he was Jared, my Jared, so for once I tried to ignore pride and put someone elses fragility first.

"I _know_ how you feel. I feel it too. That was horrible." I replied, as evenly as possible. "But it's not the end. You can try again tomorrow."

"Please tell me you're joking, because you can't be this stupid." He groaned, raising his voice. I couldn't see any trace of the Jared who'd woken me up by planting kisses along my collarbone, and taken me to a diner for an english breakfast where he'd remembered my favourite brand of herbal tea. Inadvertantly, my eyes narrowed. "He's my goddam brother, yet he didn't even recognise me. He doesn't want to fucking see me again, it's over! This was all for nothing!"

I didn't like being yelled at. Even less being called stupid for trying to help. That would teach me - compassion got you nowhere. Things would be different if he were yelling at the wall, or at empty space. The Jared I knew never yelled at me, therefore this wasn't the Jared I loved. Treating him like he was would get me nowhere.

"If you say so." I said quietly. He gave me that look again. I sat down. "If you're going to give up after dragging me all the way over to fucking Australia, I guess that's got nothing to do with me."

"I'm not giving up and you didn't have to come if you didn't want to Raven. You don't have to follow me around like a puppy!" He growled. He was legitamitly angry with me, something I'd never had the chance to see before. The demon in me liked it. She wanted to play, thought it was cute. I pushed her back with little effort. This was no game.

"Oh? Like when exactly?" I spat back. Despite the age gap, he'd never treated me like a kid. _I _was the mature one. He did not get to talk down to me.

"Like today! You didn't think I might want to see him alone?"

"Do not blame this on me." I hissed. My head felt like it was being cleaved into with an axe. His anger was hurting all the more because now it was directed at me, all of it, great big stores he had built up and kept in a resevoir for Ben's adoptive parents. I really wanted to hold him, and be held in return, so we could bear this pain together, but that couldn't happen. He only wanted Ben, not me.

"Then stop trying to fix this like it's your precious city. This isn't a Titan problem, girl wonder."

Implying I was Robin's lap dog was new. If he had before said being a Titan was not a profession but who I was, in a negative light, it had only been teasing. Now it was a fault within me. Something that pissed him off.

"I'm trying to help because I'm your girlfriend."

God, that word sounded silly. It was not a word for someone who felt every stab of doubt and terror he felt. For someone who shared not only his bed, but his emotions, triumphs and failures too. I meant to say it nicely but it came out cold.

"You're _meant_ to be my girlfriend, but right now Raven, you're a fucking bitch!" He shouted, smacking the wall with an open palm out of frustration.

I sat quietly. He had called me many names that upset me. Angel, Doll, Sunshine, 'cute' things like that. Never Bitch. I didn't think I'd ever hear that name from him. The thing that really bothered me, was the sudden violence I felt flare up inside him. I knew Jared was capable of violence, but never did I think he would feel the urge to exert it on me. There I was, proved wrong once more.

I suddenly felt very alone in a world I wasn't sure of. I could take a physical attack from almost anyone. An emotional attack to, though from anyone but him.

* * *

_Jared Wilson_

Jesus Christ, she was infuriating! She just stood there, watching me with those hurt doe eyes. There was no way a girl like her could understand what I was going through, no way in hell. Even though she spoke like a woman and lived like a woman and sometimes moved like a woman, her experiance with emotions made her a girl to me right now. In fact, when it came to feeling, Raven was two years old. How could I explain everything I felt to her? How could I make Raven understand that my blood had been replaced with ice, my bones with sadness? Every step seemed heavy and pointless, every breath bringing me closer to giving up. I hadn't had the chance to even speak with him alone yet, and I already felt like I had lost Ben.

The worst part was, there was no one to blame. No one had done something wrong in order to make Ben reject me, yet the only driving force inside me was the desire for revenge, to make someone pay. Without the need to blame something for today, I was nothing. I would collapse on the floor and not get up for days. I would simply wallow in my depression. Without revenge I was a man of action with nothing to do.

She kept staring at me. I knew it wasn't her fault that this had happened. I _knew _it, in my heart and in my head. But that didn't stop this sudden rush of hate rising dangerously close to the surface when I looked at her impassive face. When I looked at her it felt like we were on opposite ends of a wildly unbalanced scale. She was feeling nothing, and I was feeling everything in the world. It seemed like righting the scale, to blame her. She was a empty vessel for me to pour everything into.

For a second I felt pity for her, and that felt good because that was a feeling not aimed internally. Raven, the vessel, the empty shell to be used by everyone around her. By her father, as a portal, something to rest his demented dreams on. By Robin, as the ideal team member, something to mould into obediant, joy-killing perfection. By me, as the dutiful girlfriend who would drop everything and go to Australia if I said, only to be the object of my misplaced hate. Then the pity was gone, replaced by fear. What if I did something to her?

I had always possessed this _mean streak_, my first foster parents called it. If someone wronged me, I would get payback, sometimes losing my mind for a second and lashing out a little too hard before I knew what I was doing. Sometimes when I was really mad my vision tinted red and I heard the sound of the roaring ocean in my eardrums, or maybe just my blood pumping hard. What if I hit her?

The thought sent a numbing chill rumbling through me. It made me feel like I had just witnessed something disgusting - perhaps a premonition of a possible future.

"I'm going out." I muttured, grabbing my wallet off the table between us. Her eyes became even wider. More hatred seeped out into my blood - she was supposed to narrow them in suspicion, not treat me this way.

"Where?"

I could tell she wanted to come, and edged towards the door. The girl was crowding me, making it hard to breath. I thought of Ben, of his ratty girlfriend and of his rusty ute playing R n' B loud. I thought of that screen door slamming shut behind us, the moment the talismen of hope I had been wearing shattered. I felt dizzy.

"Out."

"When will you be back?"

"Dunno."

"What are you going to do?" She shot off the rapid-fire questions, each one a blow that made me feel less like a man and more like her sticky-fingered toddler, or an animal she was poking with a stick. My sight was going a little fuzzy around the corners and heat was travelling up my neck to my face. It was much too hot and jesus I needed to get away from Raven so bad it was almost like she had become the source of it.

"I don't know!" I snapped. Everything beautiful about her had become annoying and twisted. Why was she so different? Why had I picked a girl so many miles away from my usual type? Why couldn't she be a skinny blond with blue eyes? Maybe then she wouldn't look like she was embarrassed about my show of emotion in the car. Like she thought I was weak. Her dark lips were the lips of a demon, far from the pink of an uncomplicated girl. Her pale skin was wrong wrong wrong for Australia, the land I needed to assimilate to in order to become Ben's real brother, the one he deserved.

Finally her eyes narrowed and with releif, before she could say a word, I pressed a finger to my belt buckle and teleported into an alleyway outside the motel. Instantly, I was like a prisoner pardoned. I headed off in the direction of noise, alcohol, and hopefull oblivion. In order to get my head straight, I needed to demolish every thought in it so I could start fresh. I needed to drink till I forgot why my insides were decaying, why I had dragged Raven here only to hurt her. I needed to become, at least for a night, the Jared who had no cares nor responsibilities once more.

* * *

_Slade Wilson_

"Number 27, Kalburrow Road, indoor camera and microphone, activate." I said lazily, leaning back in my chair. My hands were cradelling a cup of Wintergreen's excellent coffee. The computer screen was currently showing the exterior of the little clapboard house, a dust cloud from a late model Silvia slowly dispearsing. The screen went blank for a second and then lit up with a view of the kitchen inside the Thomas residence. Seated at the table were two messy youths, one the spitting image of my late brother, and my difficult nephew, the other a maori girl cracking ice between her teeth. Though my posture was relaxed, I was intensly focused on the scene playing out in front of me. The initial interaction between Jared and Ben had not gone well, now was time for the fall out.

I was unsure if I felt disapointed they didn't hit it off. I knew that in order to get Jared on side, I needed Ben as a draw card. In order for Ben to have some influence, I needed them to be long-lost brothers united. An embrace would have been ideal. However something about the situation didn't feel final. Perhaps the look of complete confusion on Benjamin's face.

"He had to be lying... didn't he?" Ben asked, looking up at the girl. Her calculating face crumpled into one of sympathy.

"I'm not sure... He did look like you." she said, her tone soft. I frowned. From what I had seen of this girl, Tui Henderson, in my survalence, she had two personalities. One was snarky, prone to outbursts and biting comments. The other was easy going, compassionate and charming. She was built the same way Raven was - apparently the Wilson boys shared a resembulance in not only their appearance, but that of their taste in women - only younger and a bit on the skinny side. Pretty in the way caucasions wern't. An island princess sort of way. That is, she would be if she felt the need to wash her hair or dress like a girl.

"I didn't think he looked that much like me." Ben replied dully. I narrowed my eyes. The couple that raised him - I had their file splayed out on my right - had done of terrible job of getting Ben to think on his feet, but at least they had kept him in shape with farm work. That was one thing, the rest I would have to teach him myself when the time came.

They stayed silent for a while, staring at the formica table. Wintergreen appeared behind me.

"Any developments?"

"Ben is slow to grasp obvious concepts. He must have got that from his mother." I muttered. Wintergreen laughed. The door to the home was flung open, after some fumbling with the sliding door behind it and the Matilda girl stepped in, dishevled and looking around for Jared.

"Thank god he's gone." she breathed. "We have to tell mum and dad."

She had an irritating voice. In my experiance there were two types of Australian accents a women could pocess. The soft, exotic one, and the loud exagerated one that grated my nerves like cheese. This teenage nit squarly hit the latter.

"No." Ben said forcefully. For the first time I recognised the Wilson in him. Commanding, in control. My worries were eased some. Both of the boys had it in them. They were both brimming with potential. All I had to do was make sure they fall together, and then get rid of those holding them back. Namely Raven, though that would come later. His girlfriend smiled, and it was such a cunning smile I couldn't help but notice.

"You're kidding! We have to tell them! What if he comes back?" Matilda yelled, looking wild.

"Don't be a bitch. Keep your mouth shut." Ben warned, though there was no real malice behind it. Matilda stared back at him.

"He doesn't have quite the same drive as young Jared." Wintergreen noted. I nodded soundlessly. We had watched Jared in action. Up close and with survalence once I figured out who he was. He could joke and toy with people, but he had the Wilson mean streak. He could threaten and mean it, just like his father. I was yet to see that in Ben.

"I'm going to my room." he sighed, getting up. When he cleared the door, Matilda made to follow him, but the other girl stood in her path. Her face changed, from empathetic to shrewd.

"_Move_ bitch!" Matilda whined, trying to pass. I could see no love was lost between these two girls. Ben's girlfriend threw her hands out and shoved her backwards, forcefully. Though she was skinny, there was some power in her. Matilda stumbled and blinked, confused.

"_Listen_ good, you annoying little cunt." Her voice was a hiss. Wintergreen leant forward to watch. "Your brother said to keep your mouth shut. Since what happened today was none of your fucking business, I think that's resonable, ae?"

Matilda said nothing.

"I _said_, ae!" she snarled. Matilda nodded quickly. Ben's girlfriend stepped aside, her face changing back to normal with an almost liquid fluidity. Matilda hurried off down the hall, her expression frightened.

I let out a low whistle. That girl had been unmistakably vicious. She was unsettling, in a way that lit a spark of promise in my mind.

"Wintergreen," I said as we watched her sit back at the table to stare out the screen door, cracking ice again. "How far did you get with the extra information I asked for on the Henderson girl?"

I had only asked for it last night, but Wintergreen kept on top of things like no other man.

"I have contacted one of my old army friends. Brian Smit, he now works with the Auckland police force. He is going to call tonight."

"Excellent. I want to see what those gang connections add up to. While you're at it, look deep into her family. Who raised her? I want health and school records. I want to know what brought her to Australia."

I had a feeling about this one. I needed a contact within Ben's immediate circle, and attempting to get Matilda's mother back into the picture was risky and time consumming. If this girl had a secret, a problem she needed getting rid of, or, best case scenario, a thirst for money, she would be of immense help.

"I will get right on it. She seems promising."

I held up my hand as Wintergreen was about to leave.

"What do you think we ought to do about the Titans?"

They had been spotted leaving Jared's neighbourhood yesterday. Really, even in civilian clothing they stuck out of crowds. Robin's eyes had contained the manic glint I knew so well. He had obviously found some new information. I couldn't have him finding my favourite love birds too quickly.

"A distraction of sorts?" He suggested. I nodded.

"A dozen Sladebots and a hostage should do the trick."

"Seems wise sir." He replied. I took a sip of the coffee, now lukeward, and ordered the camera off.

* * *

My language is really filthy. I disgust myself.

I hope there are still people out there reading this. If so, review. Another half a chapter is all written up, begging sweetly to be posted for you all. Theres so much you have to know. Will Jared snap out of his angry little depression? Will Raven forgive him? Is Tui going insane? What is Slade up to? Will the distraction keep the Titans from locating Raven? Will Cyborg and Jinx overcome morals and get together? Is Terra going to remain a bitch? WHO IS THE HOSTAGE?

All this and more, next time...


End file.
